ICA Milano presents a new episode of Gallery Focus: a series structured into chapters documenting the history of Italian galleries which, more than others, have contributed to define the identity of Italian contemporary art from the 1950s until today. Through a selection of diverse archival materials, artworks and narratives, Gallery Focus offers a thorough survey of the atmospheres of artistic environments at the time of Reconstruction, as well as those of the following economic boom. Through a multidisciplinary and innovative exchange, such atmospheres have contributed to a deep and radical renewal of Italian visual culture.

The second edition of such meta-institutional project is the story—unfolding through documents (photographs, books, magazines, invitation cards, flyers, texts), but also through a vast selection of artworks—of the experience of the gallery Multipli, opened in Turin in the year 1970 by Giorgio Persano. With this name the gallery gave rise, between 1970 and 1975, to an outstanding work on the notion of the artist’s edition, conceived as a driving force for a new expressive research. In order to do so, the gallery worked exclusively with Arte Povera artists and some other Italian artists with conceptual leanings, thus standing out for its experimental approach.

The exhibition Arte Povera and “Multipli”, Torino 1970-1975—curated by art critic and independent curator Elena Re, who has contributed to bring international recognition to the work of Luigi Ghirri—aims at highlighting the work of Multipli during this five-year period. The exhibition project, presented in Berlin at Sprüth Magers gallery in 2014, is currently on view at ICA Milano with a revised curatorial form.

All the documents displayed in the exhibition come from Giorgio Persano’s Archive of Multipli Gallery.

ARTISTS
Giovanni Anselmo 
Alighiero Boetti 
Pier Paolo Calzolari 
Giulio Paolini 
Giuseppe Penone 
Michelangelo Pistoletto 
Gilberto Zorio 
Marco Gastini 
Giorgio Griffa 
Salvo 

Elena Re
An art critic and independent curator, she works with public and private institutions both in Italy and abroad. She has always explored Italian art through cultural projects, exhibitions and publications. She is interested in the thought process preceding the creation of the work and in a transdisciplinary vision of art. Her research ranges from conceptual photography to radical architecture and the concept of the multiple. She is the scientific director of the Archivio Giorgio Ciam; she follows the careers of various artists, and has contributed to the international acknowledgement of the work of Luigi Ghirri. She co-curated the exhibition Tutto. Perspectives on Italian art at the Museion (Bolzano, 12.10.2018 – 24.03.2019) and at the Sammlung Goetz (Munich, 14.09.2019 – 29.02.2020) with a catalogue published by Hatje Cantz. Elena is frequently called upon to hold lessons, work-shops and conferences in academic circles and museums. Her books include Luigi Ghirri – Project Prints. An Adventure in Thinking and Looking, JRP|Ringier, Zürich 2012, published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. She has curated the Jacobacci & Partners corporate collection since 2003.