By Achille Bonito Oliva, an exhaustive monographic exhibition about one of Italy's foremost and diverse artists of the 20th century.
For the first time, MADRE (the Donna Regina Museum of Contemporary Art in Naples) is paying tribute to this artist from Turin. The exhibition, organized by Achille Bonito Oliva, is arranged in a way that highlights the creative method of Alighiero Boetti. The conceptual nucleus is his modus operandi: his creation of an idea in solitude and then, later, the realization of the work with the assistance of carefully selected artisans. In this way, Boetti has succeeded in bringing the same degree of dignity to artist and creator. The exhibition includes his celebrated kilims (50 in all in the installation Alternando da uno a cento e viceversa), tapestries, maps and bronze sculptures (including his vertical “Self-portrait in the outside courtyard”) and, at the entrance, the life-size photograph of the performance “Oggi venerdì ventisette marzo millenovecentosettantatre”. Photos and videos document Boetti’s many travels to different parts of the world, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, his contact with the local culture and the local people, who were asked to execute many works by hand, and culminating in the opening of a real hotel (One Hotel) in Kabul. “Mettere all’Arte il Mondo” portrays the attitude of this great artist, who succeeded in developing his creativeness on a social level, using interaction with others and communication of art in society at large as his method.