This folder was produced by the Fondazione Alighiero e Boetti in an edition of 16:
11 folders are numbered from 1/11 to 11/11 and 5 artist's proofs
The folder contains 16 + 1 photographs by Paolo Mussat Sartor, printed by the artist
on silver gelatin baryta paper.
The photographs 1 to 15 are signed and numbered and the photograph number 16 is signed in full by Paolo Mussat Sartor.
The collaboration between Alighiero and Paolo began in 1967 and found its maximum expression in a seminal work such as Musical Instrument (1970). This relationship gave birth to images that have become topical in the artist's biography, think of the image of Alighiero in front of Manifesto for the inauguration of the solo exhibition at the Toselli Gallery in Milan (1972) or, again, of the shots documenting his first major exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Basel exhibition that was organized by a public institution (1978). This collection of photographs speaks about Alighiero's artistic research from 1967 to 1978. The photographs follow Alighiero's transition from the beginning of his Turin period, marked by the synthetic rigor typical of the Arte Povera movement, all the way to Alighiero's transfer to Rome, a place full of sounds and colors and, due to its ancient history, imbued with the Orient. From here, Kabul appeared closer. This double movement - from the north of Italy to the south, from the western side of the planet to eastern hemisphere - revealed to Alighiero the incredible plurality and otherness of the world and prepared him for his mature research. When he discovered uniqueness in multiplicity, and expressed this concept through works based on the infinite variation of the same idea (1980s), and when he then managed to create works that were not only monumental but "choral" (1990s). Creating this folder was an opportunity for me to cast my gaze and heart into Alighiero's experience, which I did not have the opportunity to know directly. The Alighiero of youth, of the progressive discovery of himself as a man (Alighiero) and as an artist (Boetti). The clarity of thought, which has always characterized his analysis, would over time be transformed into awareness, without renouncing to the desire to get involved, again and always. The years spent with him were years of travel, celebrations and births, of calm reflection and feverish creativity, tireless even through illness. This folder is a tribute to what I saw burning behind his fiery eyes. Caterina Boetti