Ideologia e Natura (1973)
Ideologia e Natura [Ideology and Nature] is a performance presented at the Galleria Duemila in Bologna in 1973.
A young girl continuously takes on and off the fascist uniform of the “Young Italians”.
First she is standing in front of a white cube, and performs this “undressing/dressing up” in a very natural and spontaneous way; then, following the rhythm given by a metronome, she starts proceeding in a more logical order.
The different ways in which she wears the same clothes every time change the ideological value of the uniform, and make the viewer wonder why she is wearing them in such an unusual way.
Her image changes according to her imagination and to the inventive and random ways in which she wears the uniform: from a Ku Klux Klan member, to Harlequin, to a member of the circus.
This journey towards a symbolical nudity highlights how the only real fact is nature, which prevails on every outfit imposed by culture or by the current ideological imagination. (Dora Aceto)
Exhibition dates and venues
1974 - Galleria De Foscherari, Bologna
– Fabio Mauri aggiornamenti a & da D.P.V., Galleria Duemila, Bologna
– Eros come linguaggio, Galleria Eros Libreria, Milano, curated by Lea Vergine e Pierre Restany
1975 - University of Salerno, curated by Filiberto Menna
1976 – Galleria del Falconiere, Falconara
1997 - L’Esperienza [The Experience], Palazzo Pretorio, Certaldo, curated by Lara Vinca Masini
– Io non voglio più essere fascista, Palazzo Taverna, Rome
– Trigon 7, Landesmuseum, Graz, curated by Lea Vergine
1978 – Western Front Society, Vancouver
1979 – Teatro del Falcone, Genova
– De Appel, Amsterdam, curated by Aggy Smeet
1992 – Studio Casoli, Milan
1993 – Inside out, Museo Pecci, Prato; Retrospective of Performances, curated by Ida Panicelli
1994 – London University, London
– Retrospective Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954 - 1994 [Fabio Mauri. Works and Actions 1954 - 1994], National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, curated by Carolyn Christov Bakargiev, supervised by Augusta Monferini
1995 - Italian Cultural Institute, London, curated by Francesco Villari
– Electronic Art, XVI Videoart Festival, Locarno, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
2003 - Retrospective L’Ecran Mental, Studio Nacional des Arts Contemporains, Le Fresnoy Lille, curated by Dominique Païni
2013 – vice versa, Padiglione Italia 55, International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Venice
2014 – Fabio Mauri, Fondaciòn PROA, Buenos Aires, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio
2016 – Fabio Mauri Retrospettiva a luce solida, Museo MADRE, Naples, curated by Laura Cherubini and Andrea Viliani
2018 – In vivo - Hommage à Fabio Mauri, Centre Pompidou, Paris, curated by Valerie Da Costa
– Fabio Mauri: le passé en actes, Studio Fabio Mauri, Rome
