Hidden in Plain Sight is the new book by Fiamma Montezemolo, produced by ON, edited by Martina Angelotti, and published by NERO
For any anthropologist, fieldwork represents both a professional obligation and a rite of passage. For Fiamma Montezemolo, as for Fred Murdock, the protagonist of Borges’ El Etnógrafo (1969), this rite of passage is a break and a crossing: a break from anthropology’s traditional forms of expression and a crossing into the realm of visual art.
Over the past three decades, moving across Italy, Mexico, and the United States, Montezemolo has challenged the idea of individual research to value intersubjective and collaborative practices, crossing geopolitical, metaphorical, and disciplinary borders.
Following the stages of Borges’ short story, this publication traces the itinerary of Montezemolo’s anthropological and artistic research, unveiling a vibrant archive comprising people encountered in person, places lived, research carried out in the field, and symbolic and physical trespassings that trained the artist’s gaze and empathy towards reality.
Presenting an ample selection of artworks, archival and photographic research material, reprinted and original writings by the artists and/or other people, Hidden in Plain Sight is an auto-anthology carefully curated to reveal the rich tapestry of Montezemolo’s diverse work.
The publication features original contributions by Fiamma Montezemolo, Martina Angelotti, Federica Giardini, Andrea Viliani; reprinted texts by Fiamma Montezemolo and Xavier Andrade, Néstor García Canclini, Ana María Forero, Josh Kun, René Peralta, Renato Rosaldo, Lucía Sanromán, Heriberto Yépez; artworks by Fiamma Montezemolo and Don Hải Phú Daedalus, Sami Elhaik, José Parral, Rebecca Solnit, Massimo Tennenini.
Preorder here.
Cultural partners: Museo delle Civiltà, Rome; MUDEC, Milan; UNAM, Cátedra Max Aub Transdisciplina en Arte y Tecnología, Mexico City; University of Geneva; University of California, Davis; Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York
Upcoming book launches
October 15: MUDEC Milan / October 24: University of California, Davis (online) / October (date TBA): UNAM, Mexico City / November (date TBA): Museo delle Civiltà, Rome / November 13: Museo Novecento, Florence.
The project is supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (XI edition, 2022), which promotes Italian contemporary art worldwide.
