International Symposium: "Engaged Visuality. The Italian and Belgian Poesia Visiva Phenomenon in the 60s and 70s." Organized by Maria Elena Minuto (Université de Liège; KU Leuven) and Jan De Vree (M HKA Museum, Antwerp) fifty-one years after "Lotta Poetica" foundation.

July 7, 2022, 09:00 am – 6:00 pm (Academia Belgica, Rome. Sala Conferenze)

July 8, 2022, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza”, Rome. Aula Odeion, Museo dell’Arte Classica)

Conference language: English, French, and Italian. Open to the public.

In a historical and cultural moment, in which poetry could present itself as 'phono-, ideo-, typo-, icono, photographical; mono-, stereo-, quadro-, ambiophonic; phonographic, bioscopic, kinetic; kinesic, eatable, odorous, tangible' (H. Damen, 1972), the 'esoeditorial' and countercultural experiences of Italian and Belgian visual poets drew a cutting-edge roadmap within the wider and multifaceted context of neo-avant-garde experimental poetry of the 1960s and 1970s by creating a unique model of interdisciplinary cooperation where verbivocovisual research, media discourses, and social criticism strongly converged. Combining insights from the fields of art history, literary criticism, and media studies, "Engaged Visuality" investigates the impact of new media, political imagery, and semiotics on poesia visiva phenomenon by focusing on a bilateral case study rarely analyzed from a comparative and transcultural perspective: the foundation of the international poetry magazine "Lotta Poetica" (first series: 1971-75) by Sarenco and Paul De Vree, i.e., the aim of Italian and Belgian interartistic exchanges, co-authored initiatives, and cross-disciplinary inquiries. Scholars, artists, and poets are invited to prompt a cross-disciplinary, dynamic, and international debate on the issues, and to examine an outstanding and collaborative editorial project that reflects the scope and the importance of Italian and Belgian cultural transfers in the 1960s and 1970s, deepening the historical and critical understanding of its legacy in the history of neo-avant-garde visual poetics.

Keynote Speakers: Dirk De Geest (KU Leuven), Nancy Lynn Perloff (Getty Research Institute), Kevin Repp (Beinecke Library, Yale), Annalisa Rimmaudo (Musée national d’art moderne -Centre Pompidou), Carla Subrizi (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma), Claudio Zambianchi (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma), Giorgio Zanchetti (Università degli Studi di Milano).

Guests Artists: Alain Arias-Misson, G. J. de Rook, Anna Oberto, Lamberto Pignotti.

Chairs: Florian Mussgnug (UCL London), Emanuela Patti (University of Edinburgh), Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (MAXXI, Roma), Franca Sinopoli (Università degli Studi ‘La Sapienza’ di Roma), Francesca Terrenato (Università degli Studi ‘La Sapienza’ di Roma).

Scientific Partnerships: Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma – Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art History, Media, and Performing Arts; Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Yale University); Université de Liège, Belgium – Department of Modern Languages and Department of Historical Sciences; KU Leuven, Belgium – Department of French, Italian and Spanish Literature; Royal Holloway University of London – Department of Languages, Literatures and Culture; Università degli Studi di Milano – Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment.

In collaboration with: Academia Belgica, Rome; M HKA Museum and Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp; the Society for Italian Studies (SIS); the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Poétique Appliquée (CIPA, ULiège); the Service d'histoire de l'art de l'époque contemporaine (SHAÉC, ULiège); the UR Traverses (ULiège); the Handling (UCLouvain); the Collection for Research on Artists’ Publications - CRAP, Ekeren.

Scientific Committee: Jan BAETENS (KU Leuven), Julie BAWIN (Université de Liège), Laurence BROGNIEZ (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Michel DELVILLE (Université de Liège), Jan DE VREE (M HKA Museum, Antwerp), Elio GRAZIOLI (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), Maria Elena MINUTO (Université de Liège; KU Leuven), Johan PAS (Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp), Giuliana PIERI (Royal Holloway University of London), Kevin REPP (Beinecke Library, Yale), Bart VAN DEN BOSSCHE (KU Leuven).

PROGRAMME

July 7, 2022, 09:00 am – 6:00 pm (Academia Belgica, Rome. Sala Conferenze)

09:00 WELCOME
Sabine van Sprang | Director, Academia Belgica of Rome

09:15 INTRODUCTION
Maria Elena Minuto (ULiège; KU Leuven) and Jan De Vree (M HKA, Antwerp)
Engaged Visuality. The Italian and Belgian Poesia Visiva Phenomenon in the 60s and 70s

‘ANTICIPATED FUTURES AND RECONSTRUCTED PASTS.’ THE REWORKING OF AVANT-GARDES IN POETIC CONCRETISM AND VISUALITY

Chair: Franca Sinopoli | Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma

a – èh by G. J. de Rook. Performance 3-4 min

09:30 Keynote speech by Giorgio Zanchetti | Università degli Studi di Milano
To Be a Meaning: Words & or vs Images from Magritte to Conceptual Art

10:00 Caterina Caputo | Università degli Studi di Firenze
E.L.T. Mesens’ Verbo-Visual Collages Exhibitions in Italy in the 60s

10:30 Eleonora Lima | Trinity College Dublin
Ana Eccetera: Between Italian Cybernetics and Belgian Surrealism

11:00 Keynote speech by Annalisa Rimmaudo | Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Pompidou
« Se il rosso non muove…Programme per une avant-garde future »

11:30 Discussion

12:00 Break

CONCRETE AND VISUAL POETICS: THE INTERNATIONAL NEO-AVANT-GARDE ART OF PUBLISHING

Chair: Florian Mussgnug | University College London

Babel by G. J. de Rook. Performance 1-2 min

13:30 Keynote speech by Dirk De Geest | KU Leuven
Engaged individuality? The Belgian contribution of De Tafelronde and Labris

14:00 Patrizio Peterlini | Fondazione Bonotto
Artist Magazines: Nerve Centers of Information and Exchange for the Development of the International Avant-garde

14:30 Caitlin Woolsey | Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Vocal Waves: On the Aesthetics and Politics of the Graphic Sound/Image in revue OU

15:00 Break

15:30 Keynote speech by Claudio Zambianchi | Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma
Lotta Poetica: The Italian and Belgian Contribution, 1971-1975

16:00 Alessandra Acocella | Università degli Studi di Parma
Luciano Caruso and the Interartistic Exchanges with Belgian Avant-Garde Magazines in the 60s and 70s

16:30 Discussion

17:00 Artist lectures and performances by Anna Oberto (Da Phantomas di Bruxelles a Lotta Poetica di Sarenco e Paul De Vree. Rapporti tra i poeti italiani e i poeti belgi anni '60 e '70), Alain Arias-Misson (Mes aller-retours entre Bruxelles- Illasi - Anvers de 1967 ´68 et ‘69: Sarenco et Paul De Vree), and G. J. de Rook (Fake, Performance 1-2 min)

Chair: Emanuela Patti | University of Edinburgh

18:00 Conclusions

July 8, 2022, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza”, Rome. Aula Odeion, Museo dell’Arte Classica)

‘WORDS TO BE LOOKED AT.’ TRANSCULTURAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON EXPERIMENTAL POETRY

Chair: Bartolomeo Pietromarchi | National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI), Rome

10:00 Keynote speech by Nancy Lynn Perloff | Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
Expressive Concentrates: Sound in the Visual Poetry of Gerhard Rühm

10:30 Maria Alicata | Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma
Between Intermediality and Action in the Verbovisual Practice of Lucia Marcucci

11:00 Juliane Debeusscher | LARHRA-Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes
Engaged visualities across the Iron Curtain. Jiří Valoch, international redactor for Lotta Poetica

11:30 Keynote speech by Kevin Repp | Beinecke Library, Yale
A New Center of Gravity: Experimental Poetry and the Shifting Alliances of Paul De Vree

12:00 Discussion

12:30 Break

Chair: Francesca Terrenato | Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma

13:30 Keynote speech by Carla Subrizi | Università degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma
Les « codes en petit morceaux ». Discontinuités narratives entre les années 60 et 70 en Italie et en Belgique

14:00 Pamela Bianchi (ESADTPM, Toulon; Université Paris 8) and Anna Battiston (Paris 1 Pantheon – Sorbonne; IUAV Venice).
Ce que les lieux font à l'art. La Poesia Visiva entre espaces alternatifs et « Guerriglia Sémiologique »

14:30 Dalila Colucci | Universidad de Sevilla
Transcréation, Poiesis, Revolutie: Italy and Belgium’s Visual Chronotopes (1960-1979)

15:00 Chiara Portesine | Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Redefining the boundaries of the Italian Neo-Avant-Garde: the Gruppo 63 taking lessons from the Gruppo 70

15:30 Discussion

16:00 Break

16:30 Keynote lecture by G. J. de Rook
De Vree, Sarenco and the Dutch connection

17:00 Artist lecture by Lamberto Pignotti: Corrispondenze e convergenze italo-belghe nel contesto internazionale della verbo-visualità

Chair: Emanuela Patti | University of Edinburgh

17:30 M HKA Collection and Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library’s holdings projections on poesia visiva

18:00 Discussion and Conclusions

Form more information: https://www.muhka.be/programme/detail/1526-international-symposium-engaged-visuality-the-italian-and-belgian-poesia-visiva-phenomenon-in-the-60s-and-70s-