GIANNI COLOMBO
\nThe Body and the Space 1959 – 1980
\n2 October \u2013 20 November 2015
\nROBILANT+VOENA, 38 Dover Street, London W1S 4NL<\/p>\n
In October ROBILANT+VOENA will present the first solo exhibition of Gianni Colombo in London, organised with the Archivio Gianni Colombo. Curated by Francesca Pola and Marco Scotini, the show will celebrate the work of Colombo during the1960s and 1970s: the first two crucial creative decades of his activity, which saw his affirmation as one of the pioneers of contemporary environmental practices and installations.
\nColombo\u2019s revolutionary work first developed in Post-war Milan, an international and vibrant artistic context, enriched by the significant presence of Lucio Fontana and of experimental artists from the new Italian generation, such as those around the Azimuth\/Azimut gallery and magazine (Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalumi, Dadamaino, Paolo Scheggi). His art is connected to the birth of what Bruno Munari and Umberto Eco defined as \u201cArte programmata\u201d (Programmed Art), and to parallel kinetic and immersive creative investigations of international artists such as Lygia Clark, Julio Le Parc, David Medalla, Fran\u00e7ois Morellet, Helio Oiticica, Jes\u00fas-Rafael Soto, Jean Tinguely, and others related to the international ZERO movement.<\/p>\n
More than fifty years after Colombo\u2019s participation in seminal UK shows, such as \u2018Art in Motion \u2013the Random and the Planned\u2019 in 1964 at the Royal College of Art and \u2018In Motion. An Arts Council exhibition of kinetic art\u2019 in 1966, the first twenty years of his career will be presented in this, his first
\nsolo exhibition in London. The chronology of the exhibition is related to key moments in Colombo\u2019s artistic course: it spans from 1959, the year he co-founded Gruppo T and first exhibited his work in the international context of the Galleria Azimut, to 1980, when he realized his first London environment,
\nTopoestesia, 8 situazioni entrexit (Topoesthesia \u2013 8 Entrexit Situations)
\nfor the exhibition \u2018Pier + Ocean. Construction in the Art of the Seventies\u2019 at Hayward Gallery, whose original maquette will be on display at Robilant+Voena.
\nColombo\u2019s practice aimed at overcoming the traditional notion of art as an object to contemplate, in order to create work that requires the active involvement of the viewer. From his tactile pieces and works in motion of the late 1950s, to his immersive light installations of the 1960, into his mature large-scale environments, he conceived art as the place for an experience, which belongs to both the body and the mind. His investigation of space is led by this idea of changing the spectator\u2019s conventional relationship with reality, both physically and psychically, encompassing also a broad dialogue with technology and architecture. Colombo\u2019s space is a space experienced in a total way, anticipating issues of perceptual and immersive researchesand audience participationthat are still important in the art of today.<\/p>\n
The exhibition will bring together pivotal examples of Colombo\u2019s work in investigating the body and the space: from early experiments in ceramic and felt, to pieces in motion such as Strutturazione pulsante (Pulsating Structuralisation), Strutturazione fluida (Fluid Structuralisation), Strutturazione acentrica (Acentric Structuralisation), Roto-Optic, to light-based pieces from the 1960s and 1970s. A specific focus is devoted to the seminal cycle Spazio elastico (Elastic Space), originated by his crucial 1967 environment realized for the exhibition \u2018Trigon 67\u2019 in Graz, which also was awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale in 1968. Colombo always considered Spazio elastico one of his greatest achievements, as is proved by the multiplicity of materials, configurations and perceptual challenges he solved within it, and exemplified by the variety of different works on display in London.<\/p>\n
The highlight of the exhibition is one of Colombo\u2019s largest and most important environments: Topoestesia \u2013 tre zone contigue (itinerario programmato) (Topoesthesia \u2013 three contiguous zones [programmed itinerary]), 1965-1970. The environment was first realized and shown in the exhibition \u2018Vitalit\u00e0 del negativo nell\u2019arte italiana 1960\/1970\u2019 at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (1970), where it became the subject of wonderful photographs by Ugo Mulas, some of which will be included in the Robilant+Voena exhibition. It is composed by three immersive subsequent spaces, featuring progressive topological deformation and rhythmic illuminations: visitors are invited to enter the work and, in walking through it, to experience a series of unconventional relationships with space and time. This will be the first time this seminal work will be presented outside of Italy.<\/p>\n
This selection of about 30 works, including some unpublished and never before exhibited pieces from Italian private collections, will be the core of the exhibition, together with some rare drawings and documents, and will be completed by Colombo\u2019s only video art work, realized in 1970 in collaboration with the Italian conceptual artist Vincenzo Agnetti: Vobulazione e bieloquenza neg (Wobulation and Bieloquence Neg). In demonstrating the outstanding wealth of his creative output, the show will reaffirm the role played by Colombo in the development of modern and contemporary art internationally.
\nThe exhibition will be accompanied by a 260 page book, written and edited by Francesca Pola and Marco Scotini and including an essay by Guy Brett, published by Marsilio Editore. Based on extensive studies of Colombo\u2019s work, with over 190 images of paintings, historical photos and documents, it will include a selection of artist\u2019s writings from the period and an iconographic mapping of selected works in museums around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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