Francesca Alinovi, the Emphatism Manifesto, and a documentary about her life

In occasion of a study day dedicated to Francesca Alinovi that will take place at MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna on October 26, 2013, Droste Effect magazine redesigned The Emphatism Manifesto, a writing by curator Francesca Alinovi that was first published on Flash Art magazine in 1983.

Francesca Alinovi was a very active curator in the art scene of Bologna (Italy) and New York (United States) during the 1970s and 1980s, until she was mysteriously and brutally murdered at 35.

Her famous motto was “Io sono come i miei artisti,” I am like my artists [Francesca Alinovi, 1983].

The Emphatism Manifesto by Francesca Alinovi | Droste Effect magazine 2013

View/Download The Emphatism Manifesto (PDF)

Now the importance of the figure of Francesca Alinovi is at the center of a soon-to-be-produced documentary by New York-based Italian curator Veronica Santi.

In her own words, «’Off-Identikit‘ is a documentary film about the extraordinary figure of Francesca Alinovi. During the 1970’s & 80’s, Bologna (Italy) and New York (United States) streets were undergoing new avant-garde movements. While many remained skeptical, Francesca Alinovi, an art critic from Italy, took strong admiration and immediately pioneered her discoveries all across Italy and Europe. She was also one of first who created a new figure in the contemporary art world: the art critic as an artist. She organized exhibitions for museums and galleries, but at the same time she chose to get out of the “ivory tower” crowd with intellectuals in order to follow the real dimension of being an artist. She was the first Italian woman brave enough to explore and discover new talents that way.
Befriending local graffiti artists, and greats such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring — Alinovi was well on her way to becoming a superstar until tragedy struck. While back home in Italy, she was found in her apartment viciously stabbed to death, 47 times. With red lipstick, her bathroom mirror read “You’re not alone, anyway.” Francesco Ciancabilla, one of Alinovi’s students, who was unhappily in love with her, was pinned as a suspect and later found guilty – though he has always declared to be innocent.»

The documentary will draw a representation of Alinovi’s life through the experiences of artists and intellectuals who met her, like in the oral tradition of telling a story, including Kenny Scharf, CRASH, Daze, Stefan Eins, Ann Magnuson, Toxic, Robert Kushner, Mariuccia Casadio, Luigi Ontani, Marcello Jori, Renato Barilli, Ivo Bonacorsi, Emi Ligabue, Vittoria Chierici, Gino Gianuizzi.
The documentary will include documents from Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Holly Solomon Gallery, Street Art, Pattern and Decoration Movement, Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Andrea Pazienza, Settimana della Performance, Raffaello Sanzio Societas, Padiglione Italia, Valvoline, L’Enfatismo.

Off-Identikit will be presented in Bologna at Laboratorio 41 on Sunday, 27 October 2013 at 8 pm.

More information about the documentary and how to back it on Kickstarter at this link.

An exhibition providing documentation on the art movement, with art works from the beginning of the ‘80s by Ivo Bonacorsi, Vittoria Chierici, Gino Gianuizzi, Emi Ligabue, Maurizio Vetrugno and photographies by Miro Zagnoli, will be held at Spazio 522 in New York City. The show, called EMPHATISM, opens on Thurs, October 24 until December 23, 2013, as the fourth and last exhibition of the cycle “Italian Wave” celebrating 2013 – Year of Italian Culture in United States.

Emphatism exhibition at Spazio 522, New York