MATERIALS: Print and transfer letters on paper
DIMENSIONS: 30.4 × 14.6 cm
Cardboard: 30.4 × 14.6 cm
Envelop: 16.6 × 35 × 0.2 cm
EDITION: Unique copy
PROVENANCE: The artist
COLLECTION: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome
CATALOGUE: G_1971_232
Conceived in 1971 but never circulated, this political multiple project was exhibited and published for the first time during the ‘Opere e Azioni 1954–1994’ retrospective at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. The project outline was stated at the bottom of the card: ‘Sheets from the General Population Census were printed and sent back to museums, galleries, collectors and private citizens. Some words were replaced. Example: – height of the heart – from the ground … from the ceiling … if in the middle of the room …The spirit of the document is revealed as a Scientific Preliminary to a Coup d’État.’ In the exhibition catalogue, Mauri defined it as ‘a sample of a response to an ambiguous State registry. A template of self-defence, it uses poetry as its means.’1
1. F. Mauri in Fabio Mauri. Opere e azioni 1954–1994, catalogue of the exhibition (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome), edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu, Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori e Carte Segrete, Rome, 1994, p. 132.
1994, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, 21 June – 5 October, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu.
1997, Klagenfurt, Kunsthalle, Fabio Mauri. Male e bellezza / Das Böse und das Schöne, 24 April – 30 June, curated by Arnulf Rohsmann.
2018, Castelbasso (Teramo), Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Fabio Mauri 1968-1978, 22 July – 2 September, curated by Laura Cherubini.
2019, Venice, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Mauri | Muntadas, 8 May – 10 September, curated by Laura Cherubini.
Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu (Milan / Rome: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, 1994), pp. 130–132, 134 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri 1968-1978, exhibition catalogue, Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (Teramo), edited by Laura Cherubini (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2018), p. 20 (ill.).
Mauri / Muntadas, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice, edited by Laura Cherubini (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2019), p. 86 (ill.).
