Emilio Prini
About the Artist
Born in Stresa in 1943, Emilio Prini has taken part in many exhibitions of the Arte Povera group since the Sixties. His oeuvre bears political and conceptual implications that reify in the objecthood of his works: manifestos, statements, programmatic declarations, simple exhibition invitations. After showing at numerous international exhibitions until the 1970s, he progressively disappeared from the art scene. His immaterial and enigmatic practice contributed to the consolidation of an auratic myth around his figure. Prini died in Rome in 2016.
Conferma partecipazione esposizione (nato vecchio)
1970
Print on paper
Following his participation in key conceptual art and Arte Povera exhibitions, including Harald Szeemann’s When Attitudes Become Form held at the Bern Kunsthalle in 1969 and the tenth edition of Documenta in 1997, Prini showed less and less frequently. On some occasions, he limited himself to confirming his participation. To the Kunstmuseum of Lucerne’s 1970 exhibition Processi di pensiero visualizzati (lit. visualised thought processes), he sent a telegram stating: “I confirm exhibition participation”. Other times, Prini published his participation confirmation in the exhibition catalogues alone. This was the case, for instance, for the exhibition Pèrsona at the International Theatre Festival of Belgrade in 1971, when he wrote: “Confirmation of participation, edition – mail and telegraphs – public telephone – telephone Genoa Emilio Prini Achille Bonito Oliva 06326589 Rome”. Over time, Prini made his presence ever-thinner, so much so that he even disappeared from the pages of the catalogues devoted to him, as was the case for the Arte Povera exhibition held at the Kunstverein in Munich in 1971.