The first solo show by an Arte Povera artist at Tate Modern, Alighiero Boetti’s “Game Plan” curated by Mark Godfrey, opens on 28 February.
Boetti was a key member of the Arte Povera group in the late ‘60s who explored new ways of using basic materials such as those associated with Turin’s booming economy as well as pens, stamps and magazines. He disassociated himself from the movement in the ‘70s and is perhaps most famous for a series of embroidered maps of the world titled “Mappa”, created between 1971 and his death in 1994. Boetti was interested in relationship between chance and order, systems of classification, and in particular non-Western traditions and practices inspired by his travels to Ethiopia, Guatemala and Afghanistan. Highlights of the exhibition include some works that have never been seen in the UK such as Self-Portrait (1993); a life-size bronze cast of the artist hosting himself down with water. Alighiero Boetti was born in Turin in 1940.
“Game Plan” is organised by Tate Modern, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, where it will be shown from 5 October 2011 to 5 February 2012, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where it will travel in Summer 2012.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/