L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable, Italy 1970s

The History of Art, perhaps like her older sister “History”, always needs to be questioned in order to stay alive. It’s not a coincidence that in our contemporary world, important artist figures often run the risk of becoming a name on an endless list. The exhibition L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable, Italia Anni ‘70, curated by Marco Scotini for FM Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea (a brand new contemporary art center in Milano located inside the restored warehouse of Frigoriferi Milanesi) deals with the notion of archive, and with the never ending potentiality of art. The curator plays with the action of archiving and with the ontology of the archive. It is quite common in conversations to lose the real value of words, all too often we can be using the same terms but not actually talking about the same things. For instance, before writing or talking of archives, we should first consider how many shades the term may have. The Archive, according to Foucault, is not so much an individual set of materials but a term for the entirety of historical records/evidence that exists to work with. The Greek word arkhe is from where everything started. As Derrida said, «The concept of the archive shelters in itself, of course, this memory of the name arkhe. But it also shelters itself from this memory which it shelters: which comes down to saying also that it forgets it,» and «such a concept is not easy to archive» (Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, 1995). Actually, the notion of archive may be unarchivable.

Ugo La Pietra, Il desiderio dell’oggetto, in Architettura radicale, “Progettare INPIU’”, 1973-75, trimestrale, Edizioni Jabik e Colophon, Milano

L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable, Italia Anni ‘70 is an exhibition that suggests to us that Italian culture can’t “archive” a group of artists or an entire season of its own art history (consider that, in Italian, the verb “to archive” and the action of archiving can also sound as “dismiss” or “set aside”). The exhibition is a survey of the Italian artistic scene in the 1970s. A journey into a turbulent decade still little known. The “unarchivable” also refers to the diversity of cultural forces and at their strong opposition to institutional organizations. That season is too important and too complex, it cannot be delayed. The importance and the impact of the Italian artistic scene in the 70s goes beyond the field of aesthetic, it interfaces with politics, and with ethical and social issues. The exhibition covers a lapse of time from 1971 to 1979, and the ghost of April 7, 1979 is implicitly evoked. As a matter of fact, on April 7, 1979 a season was closed because of the great number of arrests of leftist intellectuals, their “preventive” imprisonments and trials. The State struck its final blow, arresting hundreds associated with the Autonomia Operaia, including Toni Negri. A strategic defeat for Italian politics and for leftist culture, from which the left could not recover.

Gino De Dominicis, Tentativo di volo, 1970 Invitation flyer. Hannover, Videogalerie Gerry Schum. cm 14,5×21, Giorgio Maffei Collection

Mario Merz, Senza titolo (Una somma reale è una somma di gente), 1972, 10 pictures b/w, neon, Courtesy Fondazione Merz and Luciano Fabro, Iconografia – Gandhi (Private Collection); Iconografia – Berenice (Viliani Collection); Iconografia – Socrate (Private Collection), Iconografia – Archimede (Private Collection); Iconografia – Giovanni Battista (Private Collection); 1975, Murano Glass and Water.

The exhibition is divided into ten sections, it does not follow a chronological timeline but it has a thematic organization. General Intellect; The Whole and the Part; One Minute, A Cubic Span of Space: The Measurement; It is not needed to do new thinking, if you can move the old one: To Archive; To Add Tables to Tables; Discourses on Discourses; Anti-Penelope; Gender Un-identification; Filming the Evil (for P.P.P.); The Commune. The 70′s art history has been punctuated by precise cultural achievements, and historical clichés are not emphasized. Marco Scotini lets those memories come once more to the surface, he picked up what institutional art history has tried to blot out. The exhibition, as always in Scotini’s curatorial practice, is the result of a long research. Behind the exhibition there is a specific research about the artistic display: the curator has dug out of magazines and catalogs pictures of art works, in order to recompose pieces that were almost forgotten. This is the case of Marisa Merz’s artworks, that the curator has assembled again, thanks to images from vintage exhibitions and to the important support of Fondazione Merz (Beatrice Merz, Frances Morris). The show ends with Alberto Grifi’s footage of the “Festival del Proletariato Giovanile” at the Lambro Park in Milano. A film that the director never completed. Here the whole material is shown on 4 monitors. Alberto Grifi’s work is in front of Gino De Dominicis’ invisible sculpture “Il Senatore”. De Dominicis’ presence guides the audience throughout the exhibition – a counterpoint, like De Dominicis was. With the last room, the curator links this L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable to the Disobedience Archive and, ideally, to all his research.

Irma Blank, Twelve chapters, 1977, 12 books, cm 25×16,5, Courtesy the artist and P420, Bologna. Maria Lai, Tela cucita, 1976, canvans, cm 100 x 80, Private Collection. Marisa Merz, L’arpa, Emilio and Luisa Marinoni Collection. Maria Lai, Tela cucita, 1977, canvans and pencil, cm 120 x h80, Private Collection. Marisa Merz, L’eta del rame, 1977, installation, copper, tables and iron, cm 100x150x130; Collezione Emilio and Luisa Marinoni Collection; Collezione, Courtesy Fondazione Merz.

This is an exhibition that works out as a marker of differences in times, it shows us to what extent nowadays we need to start again and reconsider the role of cultural criticism. How much we need to problematize what is happening all around us. How much we need of that decade, in order to resist to our bankrupt present. The appearance of L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable has been a bright light in a dark time. And I hope it will bring to the so called “cognitariat” the hopes and the energy for new discussions and analyses of matters of real significance, from a thoughtful historical perspective, because as Faulkner said, «The past is never dead. It’s not even past,» and history won’t die if we still make use of it.

L’Inarchiviabile/The Unarchivable, Italia Anni ‘70, curated by Marco Scotini for FM Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Milano, through June 15, 2016.

Alberto Grifi, Il festival del proletariato giovanile al Parco Lambro, 1976, video. Laboratorio Di Comunicazione Militante, Perdita d’identità, blow-up, 125 x 140 cm, Laboratorio Di Comunicazione Militante, Scelta e deformazione di un’immagine di criminale, blow-up, 180 x 135 cm

Franco Vaccari, Photomatic d’Italia, 1973–74. Photo-strip collage on cardboard, 50 x 70 cm (ph. Lasagni). Courtesy P420, Bologna.