Notebooks Spirit (second version)

This talk circulates around the re-representation of images in the publication EP Vol. 1, The Italian Avant-Garde: 1968–1976 (Sternberg Press, Berlin: 2013), specifically the various statuses of these images and image assemblages, which include photographs of street demonstrations and Biennale68/Triennale68 protests, scenes of outdoor seminars, industrial design products, art works from then and now (Ettore Sottsass, Martino Gamper), architectural proposals/theories (Archizoom), images in print media (Casabella, Domus), covers of political journals (Quaderni Rossi, Contropiano), posters for political parties (Ettore Vitale and in response Experimental Jetset), photographs of Gruppo 9999 activities (Space Electronic Nightclub), and more.

With its particular emphasis on the space and movement of the image in a book, that aims at capturing some of the spirit, historical ruptures and partly overlooked cultural activities in Italy at the time in relation to the present, the question of in/visibility connects to forms of topology of printed matter and the currency of diagramming particular communities. Besides looking closely into the relation between proposal–city–fiction, the talk addresses the vitality and notorious drive for visually formalising and formatting theory and practice tightly connected with specific forms of power.

Being involved both as a contributor to, and in the production and conceptualisation of the book, the debate also touches on issues of abandoning established specialised roles within ‘publishing’ and its monetary (speculative) value–something that can perhaps be traced in subtle ways in these earlier dynamics across theory, print, art, labour. – A question around formatting people’s movement.