Falce e martello: tre dei modi con cui un artista può contribuire alla lotta di classe (“Hammer and Sickle: three of the ways an artist can contribute to the class struggle”) by Enzo Mari was the catalogue that accompanied his exhibition at the Galleria Milano in 1973. Today, the exhibition is re-proposed, with the same display and in the same historical Milanese gallery; this anastatic reprint of the catalogue is enriched with photographs and documents from the archives of the Gallery and from the Mari Archive, along with an essay by Bianca Trevisan which retraces the planning itinerary undertaken by the Milanese artist and designer, and an essay by Riccardo Venturi outlining the historical, artistic and political debate that the project was part of, and which was accompanied by a film that sparked a degree of controversy at the time. A snapshot of that tinderbox which was 1970s Italy, and a reflection on the hammer and sickle: the most iconic symbol of the whole of the twentieth century.
Women in Concrete Poetry: 1959–1979 is an expansive anthology focused on concrete poetry written by women in the groundbreaking movement’s early history. It features 50 writers and artists from Europe, Japan, Latin America, and the United States selected by editors Alex Balgiu and Mónica de la Torre.
The works in this volume evolved from previous manifestations of concrete poetry as defined in foundational manifestos by Öyvind Fahlström, Eugen Gomringer, and the Brazilian Noigandres Group. While some works are easily recognized as concrete poetry, as documented in canonical anthologies edited by Mary Ellen Solt and Emmett Williams in the late ’60s, it also features expansive, serial works that are overtly feminist and often trouble legibility.
Artists and writers include; Ana Bella Geiger, Mira Schendel, Mirella Bentivoglio, Tomaso Binga, Ilse Garnier, Mirtha Dermisache, Mary Ellen Solt, Susan Howe, Liliane Lijn, Hannah Weiner, Irma Blank, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, Chima Sunada, Katalin Ladik amongst others. Designed by Scott Ponik.
Produced on the occasion of the exhibition, Haim Steinbach: every single day at Museum Kurhaus Kleve, 22 September, 2018–27 January, 2019 and Museion Bolzano/Bozen, 18 May–17 Sepetmber, 2019.
Haim Steinbach is well-known for his ‘shelves’ which put into question the identity of objects through selection, arrangement and presentation.
Equally important are his site-specific installations and wall works targeting institutional characteristics. These works focus on the devices of modernism such as colour, form and the grid.
American sculptor, Eva Hesse (b. 1936, Hamburg; d. 1970, New York) is best known for her pioneering work with materials such as rope, latex and fibreglass. She is regarded as one of the artists who ushered in PostMinimalism in the late 1960s.
Her diaries from 1955 to 1970 served as a tool for the artist to analyse her experience of the world and express her feelings.
Produced on the occasion of the exhibition, Ron Nagle: Lincolnshire Squire at Modern Art, London, 10 September–18 December 2020.
Mixing traditional materials such as ceramic and porcelain with epoxy resin and catalysed polyurethane, Nagle’s works attain an almost impossible physical quality, their indefinability echoed in the deft wit of their titles, such as Vapor Caper or Curly Centurion. This catalogue illustrates 22 new works by the artist and features an essay by Dan Fox, former Frieze magazine Editor-at-Large.
Produced on the occasion of Richard Tuttle’s exhibition TheStars at Modern Art, London, 1 October–21 November, 2020.
Bearing a clear resemblance to some of Tuttle’s early work from the 1970s, such as his iconic Rope Piece (1974), which came to typify his bold approach to scale, these new works are made predominantly from plywood, paint, paper and metal wire, each sits atop its own hand-made shelf, annotated by Tuttle with its particular title, and secured to the wall with a single nail. The publication documents the new work alongside a series of Tuttle’s corresponding poems.