September 21–22, 2019
September 21-22, 2019
Council Room of the Municipality of Alba, Sala “Beppe Fenoglio,” Centro Studi “Beppe Fenoglio,” the Alba Enology School “Umberto I”
“Our Congress is like a huge and unknown chemical reaction.”
–Pinot Gallizio, 1956
For an Imaginist Renewal of the World. The Alba Congress: 1956-2019 is a poetic reenactment of the First World Congress of Free Artists that took place in Alba from September 2 to 8, 1956, which was a founding moment of the Situationist International, prior to 1957.
It is drafted by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Caterina Molteni.
The Congress was organised by Asger Jorn, Piero Simondo and Pinot Gallizio in Alba, Gallizio’s hometown, today the heart of wine and truffles Piedmont. It gathered artists and intellectuals from eight different countries, with the participation of representatives from Lettrism, the Movimento Arte Nucleare and the CoBrA group (1948-1951) from Copenhagen, Bruxelles and Amsterdam. It was coordinated by the Laboratorio sperimentale del Movimento Internazionale per una “Bauhaus Immaginista” (MIBI), founded by Jorn, Gallizio and Simondo in September 1955.
Artists will reinterpret historical participants of the 1956 Congress, literally taking on their roles.
Reports and reenactments by:
September 21, 2019
Michael Rakowitz – Pinot Gallizio
Piero Simondo – Piero Simondo
Amelia Simondo – Elena Verrone
Liam Gillick – Asger Jorn or Guy Debord (absent)
Alice Visentin – Enrico Baj
Hans Ulrich Obrist – Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London – delegate from the future
Tom McDonough, Associate Professor, Art History Department, Binghamton University
Lori Waxman, Senior Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Art History & New Art Journalism Depts
Maria Teresa Roberto, Professor at Albertina Fine Arts Academy of Turin and member of Archivio Gallizio
Francesca Comisso, art historian, a.titolo collective (curators, historians and art critics)
September 22, 2019
Alex Cecchetti – Gil J. Wolman
Cooking Sections – Pravoslav Rada and Jan Kotik (they arrived late due to visa issues in 1956)
Ludovica Carbotta – Constant
Renato Leotta – Ettore Sottsass
Irene Dionisio – Guy Debord (absent – he sent Gil J. Wolman)
Giorgina Bertolino, art historian and member of Archivio Gallizio
Bernard Blistène – Director of the Musée national d’art moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris – Lettrism and Situationism
Achille Bonito Oliva, Curator and art historian influenced by Situationism
A Public performance program on the art of walking, curated by Lori Waxman, includes works by George Brecht, Milan Knizak, Benjamin Patterson, Giovanni Anselmo, Tehching Hsieh & Linda Montano, William Anastasi, Francis Alÿs, Alex Villar, Vito Acconci.
On the occasion, the Museum also presents an exhibition at San Domenico Church in Alba, featuring works by Pellizza da Volpedo (Taner Ceylan), Pinot Gallizio (with Constant, Giorgio Gallizio, Asger Jorn, Jan Kotik and Piero Simondo), Mario Merz, as well as archival documentation on the 1956 Congress, curated by Archivio Gallizio (Maria Teresa Roberto, Giorgina Bertolino and Francesca Comisso).
