Artists: Douglas Abdell, Vincenzo Accame, Rosaire Appel, Tchello d’Barros, Gianfranco Baruchello, Tomaso Binga, Irma Blank, Nick Blinko, Alighiero Boetti, Marcia Brauer, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Elijah Burgher, Axel Calatayud, Gaston Chaissac, Laura Cingolani, Guy de Cointet, Aloïse Corbaz, Dadamaino, Betty Danon, Hanne Darboven, Michel Dave, Michael Dean, Mirtha Dermisache, Emmanuel Derriennic, Jean Dubuffet, Giordano Falzoni, León Ferrari, Chiara Fumai, Pepe Gaitán, Jill Galliéni, Ryan Gander, Anne-Marie Gbindoun, Marco Giovenale, Rafael González, Giorgio Griffa, Mariangela Guatteri, Gustav, Elisabetta Gut, Brion Gysin, Ana Hatherly, Emma Hauck, Takanori Herai, Joseph Heuer, Susan Hiller, Steffani Jemison, Carlo Keshishian, Annalies Klophaus, Maria Lai, Fabio Lapiana, Jürg Lehni, Dwight Mackintosh, Kunizo Matsumoto, Viviane Van Melkebeeke, Reinhold Metz, Henri Michaux, Miriam Midley, Bruno Munari, J.B. Murray, Gastone Novelli, Palanc, Giulio Paolini, Luca Maria Patella, Enzo Patti, Jean Perdrizet, Nathalie Perrin, Laure Pigeon, Renata Prunas, Justine Python, Svetlana Rabey, Carmen Racovitza, Judit Reigl, Jane Ruffié, Valeri Scherstjanoi, Salome Schmuki, Greta Schödl, Luigi Serafini, Jeremy Shaw, Hélène Smith, Ivana Spinelli, Martina Stella, Lina Stern, Laurence Sterne, Barbara Suckfüll, Jenna Sutela, Cecil Touchon, Louise Tournay, Jeanne Tripier, Pascal Vonlanthen, August Walla, Robert Walser, Galaxia Wang, Melvin Way, Adolf Wölfli
Exhibition title: Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other
Curated by: Andrea Bellini, Sarah Lombardi
Venue: Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Date: January 29 – August 23, 2020
Photography: All images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando (“Writing by Drawing”) is an exhibition about writing and its shadow side. Its aim is to look back over a number of practices, from the early twentieth century to the present day, in which writing leaves the function of communication behind and moves into the sphere of the illegible and unspeakable. It sets out to explore the tension inherent in script, the way that it hovers between the genuinely semantic realm and the uncharted territory of mere arabesques, automatisms, repeated marks and scribbles.
All of the works on view inhabit a special terrain vague in which the act of writing is more about “trying to say” than “saying” itself, more about potentialities of meaning than about signification, to paraphrase Giorgio Agamben. It is writing that has transcended communication, becoming a trace of existence and affirmation of self, but also an element of fancy, a metaphor for the mysterious weft of the world. Our investigation centers on this ancient human impulse to move past the communicative side of writing, toward the unfettered, absolute reclamation of the mark, with its wealth of imaginative possibilities.
As the very first collaborative project between the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne and a contemporary art institution, this exhibition brings together a diverse range of personalities: from “outsider” artists, some of whom carried out their work while institutionalized, all the way to “official” artists, some of whom played key roles in twentieth-century avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements. What these very different individuals have in common is the desire to capture an “elsewhere” within writing, to move past the semantic dimension and freely mine the innovative and imaginative resources of language.
Another aspect that the exhibition highlights is the indissoluble link between writing and power—between language and gender. In this sense the project also represents an exploration of the status of women’s voices over the last century. Since the early 1900s, many women have used compulsive, often illegible handwriting to express an existential need for personal affirmation, often in response to a patriarchal world that preferred them to be politically invisible and socially voiceless. The moment of writing becomes a moment of life, a private act, a sign of existence, and tool of self-knowledge—but also an instrument of rebellion and artistic expression.
A richly illustrated 300-page catalogue will be published in English and French editions by Skira in conjunction with the exhibition. It will bring together essays specially commissioned from curators, critics, artists, philosophers, and academics on the questions of asemic writing and walk the reader through these plural writings. In addition to texts by curators Andrea Bellini and Sarah Lombardi, this volume will also include contributions by Derek Beaulieu, Federico Campagna, Vincent Capt, François Chastanet, Andrea Cortellessa, Morad Montazami, Joana Neves, Marta Spagnolello, Michel Thévoz and Marina Yaguello. A bibliography and descriptions of the works of more than one hundred artists round out the publication.
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Scrivere Disegnando, When Language Seeks Its Other, 2020, exhibition view, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève
Douglas Abdell, Intervalisation of the Etruscan Liver, 1988, Bronze, Courtesy of the artist
Vincenzo Accame, Sei studi linguistici, 1988, Graphite and India ink on paper, 6 pages, 21 × 12.5 cm, Courtesy Galleria Peccolo Livorno
Tchello d’Barros, scritture, 2018, Ink on paper, Collection Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Irma Blank, Eigenschriften, Spazio 52, 1970, Pastel on paper, 70 × 50 cm, Courtesy of the artist and P420, Bologna
Alighiero Boetti, TRA SÉ E SÉ (clessidra, cerniera, viceversa), 1984, Mixed media on paper, 100 × 150 cm, Courtesy Agata Boetti, Paris
Marcia Brauer, Censored, 2017, Médias mixtes (Feutre sur une page du livre Transition Curves for Highways de J. Barnett), Courtesy Collection Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Axel Calatayud, Asemic writing, 2017, Silver gelatin print, 21 × 17.5 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Guy de Cointet, Strange as it may seem…, n.d., Watercolor and pencil on paper, 50.9 × 65.1 cm, Courtesy MAMCO, Donation Guy de Cointet Estate
Aloïse Corbaz, Materdolorosa, 1922 Graphite, ink and colored pencil on card stock, 9.4 × 14.3 cm Courtesy Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne
Mirtha Dermisache, Texto, 1970, India ink on paper, 28 × 23 cm, Courtesy P420, Bologna
Pepe Gaitán, Untitled, ca. 2000, Ballpoint pen, ink, collage, photocopy on paper, 28 × 21.5 cm, Courtesy christian berst | art brut, Paris
Jill Galliéni, Untitled, ca. 1990, Ink on paper, 23.9 × 15.6 cm Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne (Neuve Invention
Ryan Gander, A weight around your neck (to remind you that you’ve not wasted your time), 2019, Jesmonite, steel wire, silver, © Ryan Gander. Courtesy of the artist and TARO NASU
Elisabetta Gut, Untitled, 1980, Ink and stitched threads on paper, 21.5 × 21.5 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Susan Hiller, From India to the Planet Mars (48), 1997‒2017, Unique photographic negative in wall mounted lightbox, 67.5 × 52 × 12 cm, © The artist. Courtesy of Lisson Gallery
Carlo Keshishian, Diary, page no. 3, October 2010 to March 2011, Ink on paper, 20.5 × 29.5 cm, Courtesy of Collection Philippe Eternod and Jean-David Mermod, Lausanne
Annalies Klophaus, ersie + sie — NOTATIONEN, 1977, Book with semi-transparent tracing paper pages, 21 × 29 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Maria Lai, Untitled (minuscule stitched book), 1979, Fabric and stitching, 7 × 6 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Fabio Lapiana, Quaderno di scritture e scarabocchi, 2016, Notebook, 22 × 15 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Dwight Mackintosh, Untitled, ca. 1980, Felt-tip pen and gouache on paper, 66 × 95.5 cm, Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
Reinhold Metz, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, [page 125 to 140], between 1981-1982, Watercolor, lacquer and India ink on paper, 53.5 × 39.5 cm, Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
Miriam Midley, Carta 2018102, 2018, Ink on paper, 25 × 17 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Bruno Munari, Scritture illeggibili di un popolo sconosciuto 13, 1975, Mixed media on fanfold paper, 30.5 × 41.5 cm, Courtesy Repetto Gallery, London
J.B. Murray, Untitled, ca. 1985, Ink on paper, 43 × 34 cm, Courtesy of Collection Philippe Eternod and Jean-David Mermod, Lausanne
Gastone Novelli, [Scorcio del primo tema], 1958, Mixed media on cardboard, 70 × 100 cm, Courtesy of Archivio Gastone Novelli, Rome
Palanc, Écriture bleue, 1953, Crushed and colored eggshells on canvas, 80 × 59 cm Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
Laure Pigeon, Pierre, 1957, Ink on paper, 65 × 50 cm Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
Carmen Racovitza, fogli scritti, 2018, Ink on paper, 29.7 × 21 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Lina Stern, Asemic text, 2016–2017, Ink on paper, 2 cards, 21 × 34 cm and 21 × 30 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Luigi Serafini, Untitled drawings from Codex Seraphinianus, 2006, Ink and colored pencil on paper, 31.8 × 22 cm. Series of 10 works., Courtesy of the artist
Cecil Touchon, Asemic, 2018, Ink on paper, 29.7 × 21 cm, Courtesy of Collezione Giuseppe Garrera, Rome
Jeanne Tripier, Untitled, 1938, Ink on paper, 22 × 17 cm Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
Adolf Wölfli, Untitled (Polka des gazelles), 1917, Graphite, colored pencil and collage on paper, 100 × 75 cm, Courtesy of Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne