Daniel Spoerri. La Messa in scena degli oggetti

Over 100 works by Daniel Spoerri document the entire output of this Rumenian artist from the seventies right through to today: from the "tables" from cyclic works such as Miraculous waters, Investigation into murders, Artists Palettes, Anatomical Cabinets, Carnival of the animals, History of the letterboxes, up to a long installation, which has never been exhibited before, of tables from the Flea market genetic chain.
Promoted by the Province of Reggio Emilia, with the contribution of the Pietro Manodori Foundation and CCPL, this broad anthological exposition allows us to appreciate Daniel Spoerri's abounding creativity, which, through lucid, often previously unthought-of associations of ideas, creates connections between objects and images. In Spoerri's works the object is rediscovered and salvaged from the shipwreck of time; apart from reminding us of its entire legacy of functions, history and past memories, it also acquires new life of its own through its incorporation into the artwork.
Edited by Sandro Parmiggiani, this volume - which accompanies the exposition at Palazzo Magnani - includes essays by Otto Hahn, Alain Jouffroy, Sandro Parmiggiani, Marilena Pasquali, Wieland Schmied and Daniel Spoerri, the catalogue of works, a biography of the artist and an extended interview with Daniel Spoerri which covers his entire life and the evolution of his work.


Daniel Spoerri was born in Galati (Rumania) in 1930. At the age of twelve he went to live in Zurich; already during his youth he got to know some of his lifelong friends: Jean Tinguely, Eva Aeppli, Dieter Roth and Meret Oppenheim. from 1952 to 1957 he was a dancer (for a number of years he was principal dancer at the State Opera in Berne) and choreographer; subsequently he became vice director of the Theatre at Darmstadt. From 1957 he lived in Paris where he met, among others, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Robert Filliou and Roland Topor; In 1960 he was among the co-signatories of the "Nouveau Réalisme" manifesto. His first solo exhibition was held in Milan at the Galleria Schwarz. Despite intense expositional activity all over the world, between 1966 and 1967, Spoerri lived for thirteen months on a tiny island in the Aegean; on 18th May 1968 he opened the Spoerri restaurant in Dusseldorf - this was the birth of "Eat Art" - and he began to organise very particular banquets which have become famous. From the seventies through to today Daniel Spoerri has worked intensely on his assemblages which have been presented at many important expositions, among these it is worth mentioning the great retrospective held at the Pompidou Centre in Paris 1990-1991. Having left Paris in 1997, today Spoerri lives between Switzerland and Italy (in Seggiano, where he has created a great monumental sculpture garden).