FrancoVACCARI
Franco Vaccari. A Collection
02.2017–05.2017
Franco Vaccari. A Collection
02.2017–05.2017
1/7
Franco Vaccari, Installation view, A collection, Fondazione Marconi, Milan, 2017
1/5
Franco Vaccari
Viaggio per un trattamento completo all’albergo diurno
Cobianchi - Tagliando di controllo. Frizione, 1971
Photographic reproduction on canvas
39 x 77 cm
Viaggio per un trattamento completo all’albergo diurno
Cobianchi - Tagliando di controllo. Frizione, 1971
Photographic reproduction on canvas
39 x 77 cm
Press Release
Opening: February 21, 2017
February 22 – May 13, 2017
Franco Vaccari
A Collection
A Collection
Opening: February 21, 2017
February 22 – May 13, 2017
Franco Vaccari rose to fame after presenting the installation Leave a Photographic Trace of Your Passing on These Walls at the 1972 Venice Biennial, whose theme was “Work and Behaviour”. His association with Studio Marconi began in 1977. Modena-born Vaccari is the creator of the aesthetic formula he named Exhibitions in Real Time, part of his highly original experimentation that confirmed him as the forerunner of a unique and resonant current in the history of contemporary art. His work can be described as conceptual realism, distinguished by the use of techniques that leave the traditional idea of a work of art far behind, and likewise its relationship with the public. “The difference between happenings, performances and Exhibitions in Real Time is a difference in structure. While the first two forms develop linearly, and in their various phases follow precise, predetermined programmes, Exhibitions in Real Time are characterized by the possibility of retroaction, that is to say, feedback.” (Vaccari, 1978) In fact, Franco Vaccari’s work is never completed but always in a state of becoming, a work in progress in continuous transformation, open to the unexpected and chance. Moreover, many of his works include the viewers’ direct involvement: we are asked to participate in the creation of the work so that the artist, as the unique and original author, becomes the one who triggers an event without necessarily controlling the outcome.“‘Exhibition in Real Time’ is Vaccari’s way of emphasizing the need to create art that is contingent on the moment and actively engaged with the place, the public and the uniqueness of the context,” writes Luca Panaro in his essay published in the exhibition catalogue, adding: “Nowadays we know how much the term ‘real time’ has become a part of our lives; we are connected round the clock to information on the web or on television, which even has a dedicated ‘real-time’ channel for following events in a delivery room or in the home of a celebrity.”In this sense, Vaccari is a true pioneer with regard to the contemporary use of media, especially photography, the common denominator in many of his works.Sometimes the author uses it as a useful tool for documenting reality, as he did for his “minimal journeys”: to a daytime hotel in Milan: Viaggio per un trattamento completo all’albergo diurno Cobianchi (1971); during the 700 km journey between the cities of Modena and Graz: 700 km di esposizione (1972); on a sightseeing cruise on the Rhine: Viaggio sul Reno 1974; or a short ride through an anonymous landscape, documented by purchasing a postcard, taking a Polaroid and posting them to the museum hosting the exhibition: Omaggio all’Ariosto,1974.At other times, Vaccari has handed over authorial power to the viewers, as in the case of Exhibition in Real Time No. 4, requesting their active involvement in interpreting and completing the work.
At that event, visitors found themselves in front of an automatic photo-booth where they could immortalize themselves in four passport photos, which they then had to attach to a wall.
Vaccari took a step back, leaving visitors with the task of bringing the work to life in a random and unpredictable way, letting it take shape in “real time” and spread into the space according to how the public received it, with the aesthetic experience of each visitor contributing to determine the form and meaning.
“One of the fundamental differences between a painting and a photograph is that the latter contains more involuntary information, parasitic information, niches of mystery where the relationship between the elements is largely unknown, structured without our knowledge by the very medium we use; it is for this reason that we can speak of the ‘technological unconscious’.” (Franco Vaccari, 1979)
The concept of the “concealment of the author” combined with “technological unconscious” is still today one of the leitmotifs of Franco Vaccari’s research in art.
Both themes deal with redefining the identity of art and the role of the artist, as well as with promoting the creative autonomy of the machine that is able to capture “a collective unconscious”.
The works from the Marconi collection are able to provide a broad overview of Franco Vaccari’s oeuvre, from the first experiments of Visuelle Poesie (1966) to Viaggio per un trattamento completo all’albergo diurno Cobianchi (1971), and as far as Photostrip from the Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 2010) via some of the many Exhibitions in Real Time.
Luca Panaro’s essay in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, published by Skira, thoroughly illustrates the works on display.
It emphasises the process of participation and critical reflection on the media that Vaccari always calls for from his public, underlining the striking relevance of his art today.
“Vaccari puts the viewers at the centre of the work: he makes no judgement, he leaves each one free to act, giving them their much-desired moment of fame, even to the extent of being able to leave a picture of their face attached to the walls of the biggest art event of the day. Not so very different from what we seek nowadays through social media.” (Luca Panaro, Franco Vaccari. A Collection, 2017)
Vaccari took a step back, leaving visitors with the task of bringing the work to life in a random and unpredictable way, letting it take shape in “real time” and spread into the space according to how the public received it, with the aesthetic experience of each visitor contributing to determine the form and meaning.
“One of the fundamental differences between a painting and a photograph is that the latter contains more involuntary information, parasitic information, niches of mystery where the relationship between the elements is largely unknown, structured without our knowledge by the very medium we use; it is for this reason that we can speak of the ‘technological unconscious’.” (Franco Vaccari, 1979)
The concept of the “concealment of the author” combined with “technological unconscious” is still today one of the leitmotifs of Franco Vaccari’s research in art.
Both themes deal with redefining the identity of art and the role of the artist, as well as with promoting the creative autonomy of the machine that is able to capture “a collective unconscious”.
The works from the Marconi collection are able to provide a broad overview of Franco Vaccari’s oeuvre, from the first experiments of Visuelle Poesie (1966) to Viaggio per un trattamento completo all’albergo diurno Cobianchi (1971), and as far as Photostrip from the Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 2010) via some of the many Exhibitions in Real Time.
Luca Panaro’s essay in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, published by Skira, thoroughly illustrates the works on display.
It emphasises the process of participation and critical reflection on the media that Vaccari always calls for from his public, underlining the striking relevance of his art today.
“Vaccari puts the viewers at the centre of the work: he makes no judgement, he leaves each one free to act, giving them their much-desired moment of fame, even to the extent of being able to leave a picture of their face attached to the walls of the biggest art event of the day. Not so very different from what we seek nowadays through social media.” (Luca Panaro, Franco Vaccari. A Collection, 2017)