ARCHITECTURE, DISPATCHES ART, MUSIC, ARCHITECTURE, FILM, SHOPPING, NEWS AND THINGS TO MAKE AND DO… ART, MUSIC, ARCHITECTURE, FILM, SHOPPING, NEWS AND TH
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
TATIANA TROUVE ON ALIGHIERO E BOETTI
portrait HENRY ROY
I DISCOVERED ALIGHIERO E BOETTI WHILE I WAS STUDYING AT THE VILLA ARSON IN NICE. I was twenty,
and the Centre d’Art, then under the direction of Christian Bernard, hosted an exhibition of
his work. What touched me at the time, and what still resonates with me today, is the emphasis
the work places on the double, the echo and the dimensions of time. Alighiero Boetti split his
name to become Alighiero e Boetti, and in doing so created a double identity that permitted
him to be both creative and experimental. Indeed, by renaming himself in this way, Boetti
recognised that he couldn’t do anything without doing its opposite and its complement.
In Gemelli (1968) the artist explores this in formal terms as a photomontage featuring him and
his twinned self holding hands. Following that, all his work became a process of separation:
between him and his double, but also in collaborations and specific relationships with the
spectator. Alongside this, and to go back to the temporal themes that also run through his
oeuvre, the works most often operate within the context of a flow, a moment of waiting or of
erasure. I’m thinking, obviously, of works like the Lampada Annuale (1966) – a lamp that is
lit once, without warning, for 11 seconds each year – or I mille fiumi più lunghi del mondo
(1977–85), an embroidered canvas featuring the names of the thousand longest rivers in the word.
Boetti’s influence on my own work isn’t direct; what I do takes a very different form.
That said, in my engagement with melancholy, the elusiveness of time or the games of memory
I can obviously hear its echo. I’m also sensitive to the artisanal dimension of his work –
its economy of means, its relationship to a kind of common-sense know-how.
I lived in Africa for a long time, and I believe that this experience profoundly marked my
relationship to the practice of art. Boetti’s work uses simple techniques and cheap materials:
this economy of means intersects with my own history, my own relationship to art, which wasn’t
populated by paintings and masterpieces, but by a certain way of inventing its everyday
existence.
TATIANA TROUVE LIVES IN PARIS. SHE IS PARTICIPATING IN ROBERT STORR’S THINK
WITH THE SENSES - FEEL WITH THE MIND. ART IN THE PRESENT TENSE IN VENICE AND
IN TWO FURTHER GROUP SHOWS, NICE TO MEET YOU, AT MAMAC IN NICE UNTIL 3 JUNE,
WWW.MAMCA-NICE.ORG, AND MÉTISSAGES, AT THE JIM THOMPSON ART CENTER IN BANGKOK
UNTIL 17 JUNE, WWW.JIMTHOMPSONHOUSE.COM
ARTREVIEW three.lineight.lin
p033-034 Dispatches AR Jun07.ind38 38 5/5/07 22:26:23
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137 Page 138 Page 139 Page 140 Page 141 Page 142 Page 143 Page 144 Page 145 Page 146 Page 147 Page 148 Page 149 Page 150 Page 151 Page 152 Page 153 Page 154 Page 155 Page 156 Page 157 Page 158 Page 159 Page 160 Page 161 Page 162 Page 163 Page 164 Page 165 Page 166 Page 167 Page 168 Page 169 Page 170