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| Flash Art editor and curator Nicola Trezzi Nicola working in his Pajamas, Bushwick Photo: Elisa Beretta, 2011 |
Katy Diamond Hamer:As I know you are extremely busy, I appreciate you taking the time to answersome questions. You graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milanowith a degree from the department of Stage Design and upon graduation startedworking with Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova. How did you make thetransition from Stage Design to editorial?
Nicola Trezzi: It was a very natural process. The first year atBrera I decided to attend a class, which was not mandatory for my curriculum.It was called “English for Contemporary Art.” The teacher Tiziana Casapietraworked for many years as managing editor of Flash Art Internationaland her classes were really important for my education. Thanks to her I discoveredFlash Art, Artforum, Frieze,Parkett and I understood betterwhat a curator does and how a biennial functions, although I was already goingto the Venice Biennale with my older sister. Tiziana also gave me my firstprofessional job, which was editing the book for a very cool biennial she wasorganizing nearby Genoa. Thanks to her I got in touch with artist and writerDavid Robbins who was invited to the biennial by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Sincethen—it was 2005—he became a very good friend of mine. All this said I have toadd that the persons who brought me to Flash Art were my thesis mentor Laura Lombardi—an art historianspecialized in 1800 but a very contemporary and sophisticated woman—andFernando De Filippi who was the dean of the academy at that time and a goodfriend of Giancarlo Politi. He saw my thesis and made a phone call. Giancarloand Helena saw the book I made and made a phone call. Then I started. It was2006.
Artist and writer: David RobbinsDetail from his work Talent, 1986KDH: Six years andcounting, very exciting. Although busy, do you still find time to do stagedesign or have you chosen to focus solely on your responsibilities as a curatorand editor?
NT: My only experience as stage designer was during school and I thoughtit wasn’t very interesting. Then I thought about my education in a deeper wayand I realized I had to translate what I learned, understanding that after all,editing and designing sets are more similar than someone might think. Like setdesigners, editors always stay “behind the scene” and let other people—whetheris the actor or the writer—be on stage. Editors do a bit ofeverything—edit, write, translate, graphic design, fact checking, etc.—exactlylike set designers. Obviously if we consider the curatorial practice this iseven more visible. Although quite reductive, a show can be seen as anarrangement of objects in space, a description that can totally fit that of astage, a set. I put this hierarchy and reserved the order in your questionbecause I will always see myself only as an editor. Whatever I do, whetherwriting, organizing exhibitions or running the Lucie Fontaine space in Milan,will always be collateral, so to speak.
Artist: Fia BackströmDetail with her work Recycle (Hanging proposal for sculpture by Kelley Walker)
KDH: This pastautumn, you co-curated an exhibition with artist John Newsome and Astrid Honoldat the HVCCA, located in the Hudson Valley, New York. The exhibit, titled Circa1986, focuses on a specific time period and several well-knownartists such as Robert Gober, Richard Prince, and Jessica Stockholder, amongstothers have been included. As a young, although highly active individual withinthe contemporary art community, what is your take on art from this featureddecade and the influence it has on emergent artists?
NT: That exhibition came as an invitation from the founders of the space,collectors Marc and Livia Straus. This means that it was a commission, wedidn’t have carte blanche. I was working on an essay about how collecting canbe seen as a creative activity and how the collection of an artist—from JeffKoons collecting Renaissance to Damien Hirst collecting Jeff Koons, from SethPrice’s collection of videogame soundtracks to Hans-Peter Feldmann and FiaBackström’s collections of images—can inform the practice tout court. Thisinvitation became, for me, a perfect channel for these ideas since one of the“rules of the game” was to select works only from private collections. Plus Icould exhibit works by artists I admire such as David Robbins and SarahCharlesworth, the latter who was the artist with the biggest amount of works inthe show. Both Robbins and Charlesworth are deeply influential. If you see allthese so-called “artists intellectuals” you will discover how Robbins was amongthe first doing that. Same thing if you consider the relationship between artand entertainment. As for Charlesworth in my opinion she is the god mother ofan entire generation of artists: Sara VanDerBeek, Elad Lassry, Liz Deschenes,Roe Ethridge, Eileen Quinlan, Anne Collier, Talia Chetrit just to name thoseliving in the US.
Artist: Sarah Charlesworth, photo by Gilles Donze, c.1989
KDH: I’m actuallynot familiar with Sarah Charlesworth, so will have to look her up. Regardingyour experience as a curator, the Biennial Foundation features exhibitionsincluding Performa, in many cities throughout the world. I know you have asignificant position as curator of the Prague Biennale, which was founded in2003 by Giancarlo Politi and Helena Kontova. How do you see this role evolvingand how would you say it has assisted in the evolution of your curatorialpractice?
NT: My role really evolved over the years. For the first edition I did in2007 I was just executing and to be sincere I was learning. Then in 2009 Inoticed Giancarlo and Helena became aware of my role within the foundation andwanted to acknowledge that. At the beginning I was hesitant especially becauseI didn’t want to put my “hobby” of organizing exhibitions before my work as aneditor. Then I gave up and became the official curator of the 2011 edition. Forthose who are not familiar with the structure of the Prague Biennale I mustexplain that being the curator doesn’t mean being the sole author runningthe show. Quite the contrary, because it is after all a biennial runby editors, my role there is pretty similar to the one I have at Flash Art.
KDH: Interesting that you should say that. I tend tothink of my own blog as a curated space. I am quite particular not only aboutwritten content, but the photographic images and the way that the text isplaced on the page. I really enjoy and relate to your comparison of curatingand organizing exhibitions parallel to your editorial duties.
NT: I am glad I am not the only one thinking that way! Just to say a bitmore about Prague the biennial consists of a series of small shows within theshow, a sort of Chinese box. My role is to coordinate everything and make surethe co-curators are continuing the mission of the biennial without beingintrusive. Just like what I do when I commission an article for the magazine,which by the way is always the result of several mediations with Giancarlo andHelena. So for this last edition I was coordinating the whole thing and I co-curateda section with Giancarlo and Helena entitled “Painting Overall.” After thebiennial ended, I brought that section to the Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej ZamekUjazdowski in Warsaw, I invited Polish artist MaÅ‚gorzata Szymankiewicz toexhibit and asked Pietro Roccasalva do design the poster of the show, here wasnow entitled “Four Rooms”. I will soon do the same process in Romania andhopefully in Israel. I see this show as a text, which I am reediting andre-adjusting for different formats and context. So again my curatorial choicesare always informed by my everyday activity as editor.
Gilles DeleuzeKDH: This makestotal sense, but not many people are able to expess the process in this way.Lastly, you recently tweeted that Flash Art is expanding toinclude a Hungarian edition. As the art world becomes more globalized throughtechnological expansion, where do you see the future of print magazines and artcriticism?
NT: Magazines will never die, especially art magazines whichaudience—artists, collectors and dealers—is imbued within the commodity system,which is still pretty much object-oriented. However with the increase of thesocial media and the dematerialization of the notion of commodity—which doesn’tmean to disappear, let’s just think of the diabolical system of Tino Sehgal—Iam curious to see how this will evolve. I wish the reason for me to thinkmagazines have no future was related to the end of the capitalist system, whichclearly failed. Unfortunately the reality is different. Capitalism is justchanging skin like a snake. The only solution is to learn how it functions inorder to find solutions and fight a reality where rich people are becoming morerich and poor people are becoming more poor. If art will reflect upon it andwill try to give solutions, art magazines should be there to support if not tobe the weapon. For sure Gilles Deleuze was right: “There is no need to fear orhope, but only to look for new weapons.”
KDH: I completely agree. As a society we are left withremnants of the snake skin which for most is probably easily overlooked.I also see printed text, further art criticism and textual reportage in thefuture as both a reflection and catalyst to artwork being made. Thank you fortaking the time to sit down with me and for your insightful responses! I lookforward to what you have up your sleeve next and also to our continuededitorial interactions, whether written or curatorial, in the near future.Grazie!
More soon!xo
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