'DANIEL SPOERRI. Eat art in transformation', at Palazzo Santa Margherita, Modena

Following on from the first stage at the m.a.x museum in Chiasso (Switzerland), (1 May-30 August 2015); on Saturday 10 October 2015 at 6pm at #palazzosantamargherita and at the Palazzina dei Giardini in Corso Canalgrande, Modena, the exhibition “Daniel Spoerri. Eat Art in transformation”, curated by Susanne Bieri, Antonio d'Avossa and Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, will be inaugurated.
Staged and co-produced by the #galleriacivicadimodena and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di #modena together with the m.a.x. museum of Chiasso, the exhibition will remain on show until 31st January 2016.
The exhibition dedicated to the work of Swiss artist Daniel Spoerri, (1930) in relation to the current Eat Art, he created in 1967 – with which he set out to open a critical reflection on the fundamental principles of nutrition, closely linked to the theme of EXPO 2015 whence the italian step received the patronage.
The works on show range from an early period of experimentation linked to the magazine “Material” (1955-1961), to his kinetic multiples and his well-known tableaux-pièges, “snare pictures” obtained by assembling objects glued to supports and turned on their side – casual compositions of leftover food and dirty dishes, trapped in resin and displayed vertically, like paintings, today to be found in the collections of the MoMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris – up to his sculpture and research in the field of graphics, which also includes important archive documents.
Spoerri’s poetics allows for a reading with hindsight of man’s age-old fascination with food. It is no coincidence that the artist will also be present at the Swiss Pavilion of the Milan EXPO 2015 with a specially produced work entitled “Meissen Porzellan Puzzle”, made up of 36 porcelain tiles. The exhibition also features the artist’s recipes, his notes and menus from the Restaurant Spoerri in Düsseldorf (1968) up to the Bistrot of Santa Marta produced for the Fondazione Mudima in Milan, 2014.
An entire section will be given over to his graphics, for the first time (in Chiasso and in Modena) the object of study in a museum context, which among other things, also include his sketches, posters and advertisements. Letters and documents thus testify to Spoerri’s relationship with contemporary artists, such as Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim and Ben Vautier.
The works come from the collection of the artist, from the National Library of Bern (which houses Spoerri’s archive) and from major European galleries and collections. In Modena, the exhibition will be enhanced by a section drawing on collections from around the region, with largely unseen works made available by generous collectors.

“Analysing a very restricted territory, such as that of Emilia-Romagna – writes Serena Goldoni in her catalogue text – the variety of collectors and the collections of works by #danielspoerri is surprising and surprisingly rich. We may cite recipe books, such as the “Bibliothèque de recettes” (1987-89), an edition printed by the lamented Francesco Conz – she continues – or works that by pure chance become representative of a desire to collect, like “Collezioni di cucchiai e croci” (1986) from the collection of contemporary religious art of Carlo Cattelani, kitchen utensils assembled with crosses and Virgin Marys, together with a blue light creating a mystic atmosphere.”
“The Brotteigobjekte (objects made of bread, 1972), to go back to Eat Art: shoes and slippers all the worse for wear, steam irons full of bread dough, works baked in the oven.” To name but a few examples.
Nothing is missing from this original and unique display, presented to visitors almost like a set table, at which anyone may – metaphorically – take a seat. Daniel Spoerri, an artist who started out as a dancer and choreographer, eventually became the inventor of a new artistic language, the author of recipes and menus, the life and soul of his restaurants, and even an actor. Through his poetics, he has long questioned conformism, common places and certainties. A master who has taken eating as his privileged interlocutor, using it as a real trait d'union between art and life.

Daniel Spoerri, Collezioni di cucchiai e croci, 1986, Cattelani Collection, Modena.

Biographical Notes

Daniel Spoerri, born on 27 March 1930, largely owes his fame as an artist to his so-called tableaux-pièges (snare pictures), produced from the 1960s onwards. He began his career as a dancer in 1950s Berne. He later earned a name as a restaurant owner (1970s) and as the founder of Eat Art (opening the Eat Art Gallery in Düsseldorf, where he began to stage his numerous banquets). In the 1990s he produced a great sculpture park, which in 1997 became a foundation: the Garden of #danielspoerri in Seggiano, southern Tuscany.
In 2009 the ‘Kunststaulager Spoerri’ archive was opened in Hadersdorf am Kamp (in Austria).

exhibition Daniel Spoerri. Eat Art in transformation

venue Palazzo Santa Margherita, corso Canalgrande 103, Modena
Palazzina dei Giardini, corso Canalgrande, Modena

curators Susanne Bieri, Antonio d'Avossa and Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini

when 10 October 2015-31 January 2016

organisation and production Galleria civica di Modena,
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena

in collaboration with m.a.x. museum, Chiasso

opening Saturday 10 October 2015, 6pm

press preview Thursday 8 October 2015, 11.30am

catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale (Milan), pp. 256, Italian-English, edited by Susanne Bieri, Antonio d'Avossa, Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, with texts by Barbara Räderscheidt, Antonio d'Avossa, Serena Goldoni, Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini and Susanne Bieri

entrance free

opening times Wednesdays – Fridays 10.30am – 1pm; 3pm – 6pm,
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 10.30 – 7pm.
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays