Jože Horvat
Pino Poggi
In June 2000 the Art Gallery in Slovenj Gradec opened Pino Poggi's
retropective exhibition which, of course, could not reveal all the aspects
of Poggi's work. His heterogeneous artistic creativity was exhibited,
whereas his writing - essays, poems, prose (for example his fairy tales,
like the one about a sparrow and a swallow, titled Adi & Zoe) -
could only be hinted. Poggi's personality could only be guessed indirectly
through his exhibited artifacts, unless a visitor had an opportunity
to meet the artist in person and to talk with him. Namely, Poggi often
participated in the exhibition, always willing to talk and to perform
with literature and music. These performances were somehow a part of
this exhibition since Poggi does not want to isolate his art and he
does not see it as a challange for a hermetically academic reflection.
He wants a visitor to have an opportunity to contemplate the meaningful
and up-to-date social or even political dimension of art. This is why
his being there is very important.
But my impression is that Poggi does not like conversation mainly
because of the mission of his art, although this could be the primary
reason. Namely, a conversation is also his form of contact with other
people. I think that he likes to talk with people which might be because
of his mediterranean background and his open-mindedness and this is
a characteristic that could be very interesting for people that appear
to be different, perhaps more introvert. I remember that my first meeting
with Poggi (which happened over 20 years ago) was unusually relaxed
and, as far as I know, other people have the same experience. That is
why I do not think it strange that artists and people associated with
art in Koroška regard him as one of the locals, despite his honest temporary
critical remarks regarding themselves and their surroundings. And those
less informed see him as the artist who has made the large statue in
the form of a letter "S" with two globes in its curves and
which has been situated near one of the main roads to Slovenj Gradec
for over 30 years now.
His late wife was from Slovenj Gradec and he is also attached to this
city, which has long and diverse art tradition, as an artist. He and
his family has lived in Germany, he lectured at Art Academies in Genova
and in Muenich but otherwise he has been - with his arte utile - one
of those unconventional artists who have been trying to establish a
direct connection between their art presentations and people and who
have been trying to talk with people about art, problems of life and
perhaps even politics. But - as he himself stated in an interview -
he does not want to teach or tell people what to do, he merely wants
to present problems the way they really are and to include them in his
work. He would not even mind conversing with "extremists since
it is often the case that intolerant terror, giving its expression in
extremism, is a result of a man's isolation. If you manage to break
it, you face a whole new man with problems like any other. In my form
of conversation I have always wanted to convert intolerant people into
tolerant ones and to help them design or express certain problems visually
or in writing. This has been the purpose of my arte utile."
He believes that the background of this art, which he started in the
70s, is to be found in his hometown, Genova. He remembers that even
his grandfather faced the problem of surviving on a small area. The
area which was always endangered either by land or by sea (pirates),
so that the land has always played an important role and people had
to exploit it very racionally. In their need to survive people had to
be very economical with the land. And the structure of this ground was
very important as well, the soil had to be put on rocks in several different
layers in order to preserve its fertility.
And from this cognition of being extremely cautious as far as environment
is concerned Poggi's later concepts, projects and attitude towards future
originate. This environmental anxiety, which is both a social consciousness
and a whole-European concept, was transmitted in his art. " In
Genova I first worked with plastics - one of such early works is a monument
to my mother-in-law which can be seen at the cemetary in Slovenj Gradec
- but already in Genova and in Muenich I have tried to explain to my
students that a work of art should combine aesthetic dimensions with
some social elements as well. Namely, only such works of art carry a
message. A spectator should be able to see the beauty of a creation
but also its special theme, which always calls for a debate. A picture
that is merely beautiful cannot be discussed for a long time. This concept
is already close to arte utile, which is supposed to offer discussion
oppurtunities about things important for the present and for the future."
Arte utile started his "social aesthetics", which was explained
in his published manifestos and in his essay from 1988; there he stated
that its beginnings reach as far as Gothic art and even earlier. Today,
in the time of a massive industrial production, it is linked to a design
and its aesthetic function. It is also important what and how a person
eats, how he or she is dressed, what items are displayed in shop-windows
and how - and in Slovenia it is also important what kind of a flag is
used to represent the nation. Poggi suggested a public competition for
a new Slovene flag years ago since he believes that it is impossible
for the Slovene people to identify themselves with the existing one,
the reason being its likeness to the Russian and the Slovakian flags.
Slovenia needs "a flag with its own colours, stressing Slovene
identity only."
Poggi has planned and carried out several projects regarding social
aesthetics, some of them were presented at the already mentioned retrospective
exhibition in Slovenj Gradec. And it is the social aesthetics, which
does not consist of design only, that he wishes to mark Slovenj Gradec
with. In his wish to open the museum of social aesthetics in Slovenj
Gradec he sent applications and documents in Ljubljana and in Slovenj
Gradec, but as it seems he is still at the beginning of his mission,
since there has been no answer from the officials yet. He is prepared
to donate some of his creations to the museum and he is confident that
some of his friends from western Europe would do the same. He is not
surprised at the lack of interest for his initiative (the same goes
for his initiative concerning the flag as well - the initiative was
accepted only among his friends and acquaintances) for he is familiar
with a kind of a distrust to inovations among the Slovenes, but he also
understands that Slovenia does not have as much money as the cultural
centres in the west and that being the reason why the ideas are not
always carried out. Nevertheless, he does not question the importance
of such a museum which could help against the some sort of an isolation
of Europe "with its videos, computers, cars, Coca-Colas and easy-going
attitude" from Slovenia. Such a museum would make people think
about the possibilities of a future development.
Poggi has some more suggestions regarding Slovenia: "I am not
merely an artist, I am also a person thinking about and dealing with
future and things that I love. I spend a lot of my time in Slovenia,
my wife and I often stayed here, our children visit Slovenia… Slovenia
has a future, but in these new times the young people from Slovenia
should reexamine their background and find their identity. They can
be easily malipulated and they rarely doubt foreign splendour. I believe
that future Slovenia should start with biological/natural farming since
this is the only way Slovenia can become competitive with other countries.
Besides, by using this kind of farming Slovenia would get subsidies
from Brussels. I believe this to be very important, as well as the flag,
which should be changed. For example, I often observe shop-windows crammed
with different things because shopkeepers want to brag with all the
things they have. Whereas something special, typical should be showed
to customers. The social aesthetics could play an important part here
as well, since it is both art and a pragmatic situation of survival."
To achieve these goals not only creativity with higher standards but
also culture itself should be present in social life and in politics,
and politicians should realize that their short-term thinking cannot
apply for an artist. With the arte utile actions - this social and aesthetic,
nontraditional art - Poggi and his colleagues tried to call people's
attention to unhealthy conditions and to find more appropriate alternatives
of development. And politicians should pay attention to it. This was
true in the past when the most cultivated rulers realized the power
of art and therefore took risks and invested a lot in art. Poggi states
well-known Italian cities such as Florence, Venice and Genova whose
building and decorations of today famous churches, squares and palaces
were entrusted to the most famous architects and artists of the time
and their creations have been attracting crowds of tourists ever since.
" Things were seen in long-term, not merely in short-term back
then. That is why I have been stating that the artists that can easily
be bought cannot be the only ones that are to be trusted; we should
examine their abilities, their credibility and their value. The artist's
credibility is, in my opinion, the most important one."
Poggi believes that it is a modern artist that keeps contact with
the society and with politics through his art. He or she uses all the
available means to interfere with the society. Poggi himself interferes
also by writing theatre texts, fairy-tales, poems and by singing songs.
He therefore interferes with his whole being. His poems can be simple,
about man's intimacy, but they can also be full of protest or antiwar
poems and poems calling our attention to wrong political decisions and
to problems of our society, which faces its own development crisis.
Poetry can be very effective in finding a listener for it touches his
or her feelings and in a way sets him/her at ease, but it can also attract
his/her attention or responsibility for real actions - either by declaring
for truth and against war or against a threat to environment.
I have presented Poggi' character; he has many talents and he is prepared
to commit himself, that is why meetings with Pino Poggi can be constructive,
especially meetings connected with his performances. I got to know Poggi
the artist, but not all the aspects of his talent, at his retrospective
last year. Anyone unburdened and spiritually open enough could sense
a unique confession with affection not normally seen (at least here
in Slovenia) in sophisticated forms of modern art.
Many more competent people have written about this exhibition; but
some of the facts regarding the exhibition can reveal also Poggi's spiritual,
mental portrait. I have a main segment of the exhibition in my mind
- there was an explicit concept of " social aesthetics" in
which he presented current themes regarding an individual and a society
with installations or environments. Anyone seeing this exhibition must
have been surprised because by using useful objects, artifacts, models
of his installations, mirrors, symbols of our era (books, newspapers,
radio), and mythological symbols, Poggi discloses himself as a philosopher
presenting the fragments of the great story of today's world - better
than many artists using traditional paintings or statues.
Like many others, this exhibition also showed Poggi as a conceptualist
who does not create his works like most of the artists - he often made
his sculptures (installations) from already existing objects. But, these
objects were not used by chance but according to the logic of the idea
he wanted to convey - this was often the warning of Earth's demolition,
the idea of tragicomic political state of the society, which has no
prospects. These objects also reveal his own pain regarding the briefness
of life, a confession that could be viewed as a sentimental one if it
had been expressed traditionally. Namely, in the first room Poggi exhibited
the favourite objects of his late wife Tanja, who was from Slovenj Gradec;
books, paintings, crucifix and some other every day objects. And the
perfect whiteness of the room made these object somehow intangible and
the spectators could feel their timelessness. It could be that the emotional
atmosphere of this room added some emotions to the messages and confessions
in other rooms as well, for a spectator could sense their surpassable
character that attracted attention and he or she could sense a monologue,
which just had to be heard in some of the greatest installations. Many
Poggi's compositions in this exhibition expressed mythological motifs,
which brought warnings from gods into profane, modern world - warnings
which had never been listened to. Poggi's compositions formed a situation
which was trying to make people understand that their world is about
to be destroyed if those warnings are not considered.
Some people might have considered these emphases rather "didactic",
but they were a constituent part of his art view, which consists of
social engagement using specific means as well. These means were obvious
also at the exhibition - the emphases were designed as a puzzle, consisiting
of numerous useful items and elements from nature and accompanied with
archetypes taken from the western culture. That is why these compositons
represented an essay on human being and world rather than a common visual
product; there is a mutual threat between the human being and the world,
but only the human being has feelings towards the world, the world remains
indifferent.
Poggi's creativity therefore reveals his personal attitude, for he
does not exclude personal affections and dreams. He has stated in one
of his manifestos:
" We are artists and we live in the society which measures art
by its usefulness. But the fact is that this society needs the dreams
of artists as a counterpoise to all every day nightmare it produces.
We - the artists- are not here to beautify the world or to make people
happy… Such artists, as we know from history, almost always ended tragically.
But at the same time we realize that the reality can be altered, when
viewed at as being changeable…Art is not merely art and the rest being
just the rest, something different. No, quite the opposite - all that
is left is art material. We strive to combine sense and imagination,
we create art which presents and shows reality, revealing its hidden
and lost possibilities."
Art and artists are nowadays part of "the world" and not
isolated as in the past. And this is not true merely for Poggi the artist,
but also for Poggi the human being. The first uses all those already
mentioned forms of creativity in order to deal with as many aspects
of life as possible. Whereas the latter can also be seen when talking
to other people - also with those that have different points of view
- and always being a good listener, a good explainer and a critic. He
is aware of the fact that united Europe has a future, but there are
many dangers that await it, he sees some dangers also in the field of
art. Market and gallery managers have excluded original artists and
made them marginal by setting their own standards, which are followed
by many artists. Mafia and business are the words that can be associated
with the art in the West.
I have always regarded Poggi as the one that knows what he is talking
about. He knows art, culture, politics …and whenever the possibility
arises he states his opinions through graphic arts. Why does he do that?
To make sure that his opinions will be clear enough? Or does he do it
because of his impulse that makes him do sketches and drafts, although
the final product is never a drawing or a painting? I really do not
know, but it appears that Poggi is an artist that changes his methods
but nevertheless remains the same - the artist that has to express his
feelings wherever he might be…
Poggi studied statuary art in Genova, where he also gave lectures
for some time. His beginning was not that of the avant-garde. Later
on he went to Yugoslavia, he came to Slovenj Gradec and to Maribor,
where he worked in a studio with Slavko Tihec, the sculptor. He left
Slovenia for Germany, but he gave a present to the city of Slovenj Gradec
- a monumental modernistic sculpture - the great "S". This
was the time when he had already abandoned classical sculpture - with
some exceptions ( for example a statue at the cemetary in Slovenj Gradec)
- and dedicated himself to modern, engaged art, such as at that time
modern actions and happenings in the streets of Muenich. In the 70s
Poggi up-graded his activities with arte utile, art that " demands
art to be useful, socially allert, showing man and the world from different
angles, and not to be only beautiful and aesthetic" - as it has
been stated in one of his manifestos.
The 80s brought Poggi closer to environments, installations and also
to scene painting - here it should be mentioned that Poggi was the art
director of Halgato, a Slovene film directed by Andrej Mlakar in 1994.
gor