Milan dedicates an exhibition to the Lines of Manzoni and Cavandoli

From May 26 to June 30, 2022, the Clivio Gallery in Milan is dedicating an exhibition to Piero Manzoni ’s Linee and Osvaldo Cavandoli’s Linea. Curated by Anna Dusi and Flaminio Gualdoni, the aim of the exhibition is to establish a long-distance dialogue between the two authors, who, although in different ways, have addressed the theme of line in their careers. Piero Manzoni (Soncino, 1933 - Milan, 1963), a pioneer ofconceptual art, conceived in 1959 the Linee, works in which a line drawn horizontally on rolls of paper of varying lengths is rolled up and then closed in sealed cylinders. Osvaldo Cavandoli (Toscolano Maderno, 1920 - Milan, 2007), on the other hand, created the famous Linea character in 1969, as a proposal for RAI’s Carosello: a cartoon made with a single continuous pencil stroke; the line traced the character, the place and time of his action.

The Milan exhibition aims to bring together two very different conceptions, but both born from an essential graphic element that is charged with poetic and ironic implications. For Manzoni, it is a matter of reducing the elementary act of marking to its prime foundation, capable in any case of pronouncing reality. For Cavandoli, it is a matter of transforming the narrative element of animation into the very plane of reality of vision, assigning a new value to the artifice of drawing.

“An onomatopoeic sound reverberates in my mind when I think of Piero Manzoni and Osvaldo Cavandoli, two characters who gave new meaning to the language of the image,” said curator Anna Dusi together with Flaminio Gualdoni. “We want to invite viewers to an encounter made of questions, suspended phrases and abstract lines, giving an imaginative and poetic sense to the work of Manzoni and Cavandoli.” “The sense of this installation is not to seek affinities between the two authors, but to testify how the most essential element of art, the simple line, has given rise to different experiences, but characterized by an extraordinary innovative charge,” Gualdoni added.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a number of collateral events will be organized, starting with creative workshops dedicated to young children to experiment with ideas, emotions and the movement of lines. These will be held at Studiocine Cavandoli in Via Prina 10, Milan, a space where Osvaldo Cavandoli created his characters. Conceived by Daniela Migotto and Francesca Valan, the workshops are free and designed for children ages 6 to 10.

From June 6 to 8, at the Casa delle Associazioni e del Volontariato in Milan, the theater workshop Il divenire della Linea (The Becoming of the Line) is scheduled for actresses and actors aged 20 to 40. It will be held by director, actor and performer Raffaello Fusaro. Participants will be involved in physical, expressive, mimic, vocal and emotional research around Cavandoli’s imaginary character.

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. Free admission.

Milan dedicates an exhibition to the Lines of Manzoni and Cavandoli

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