Piero Manzoni, Merda d’artista, 1961

AZIMUT/H. Continuity and Newness

The exhibition AZIMUT/H. Continuity and Newness is a tribute to the post World War II neo-avantgarde in Italy, currently of widespread interest to critics, curators and the general public, and in particular to Azimuth, the gallery and the review founded in 1959 in Milan by Enrico Castellani (b. 1930) and Piero Manzoni (1933–1963).

Lucio Fontana, Io sono un santo, 1958

The exhibition reveals Azimuth’s central position in the panorama of Italian and international art of those years: like a creative earthquake it was one of the great catalysts of Italian and European visual and conceptual culture of the time and an intellectual bridge between a new, revolutionary generation and the most contemporary developments in art.

Jasper Johns, Figura 8, 1959

Like a thunderbolt of intense activity, between September 1959 and July 1960, Azimuth is evermore acknowledged in the collective consciousness of critics and historians as a critical episode, marked by radical experimentation, energized by its ties to some of the major figures of the art scene in those years and by lively international dialogue.

Enrico Castellani, Senza titolo, 1959

With AZIMUT/H. Continuity and Newness, Luca Massimo Barbero adds to a series of exhibitions he has curated researching the art scene in the postwar decades. The exhibition anticipates another celebration of the European neo-avantgardes of that time: ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s, opening October 10, 2014, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, curated by Valerie Hillings, Curator and Manager, Curatorial Affairs Abu Dhabi Project.

more. www.guggenheim-venice.it