Language and Culture issue 8 march 09 - The University of Sydney

Poesia Visiva: Italian Concrete & Visual
Poetry of the 1960s & 1970s
Giulia Niccolai
Five Colours 1974
silk screen and thread on paper
University of Sydney Art Collection
© Courtesy of the artist
Throughout the sixties and seventies, Concrete and Visual Poetry were one of the most active
and radical movements in the visual arts. Treating the poem as an object, artists combined
language and pictorial elements to create compelling works of art. In Italy it also became an
effective medium to portray political concerns. Using works from the University Art Collection,
this exhibition showcases the medium's key techniques such as the use of collage, the
typewriter, mass media and popular culture.
University Art Gallery 17 May – 28 June
The collection was originally assembled by two Italian
writers, Adriana Spatola and Giulia Niccolai, on the
occasion of the first Frederick May Foundation and
was showcased at an Italian Studies conference
in 1978. 30 years later after, being looked after by
Professor Nerida Newbigin, it passed to the University’s
art collection in February 2008. The gift includes
more than seventy works, each of which was given
to the University by its creator, as well as rare books,
catalogues and cassettes. Connie Tornatore-Loong, a
former student of the Italian Studies Department and
now Assistant Curator of the University Art Gallery,
has been working since the beginning of the year to
catalogue, photograph and conserve every piece,
and a selection will be framed for the exhibition.
The Department of Italian Studies interest in the
work of Adriano Spatola dates back to the late ‘60s,
when Frederick May directed his Dodice Schede e
musica (Twelve Record Cards and Music) in Sydney
and Canberra as part of a program of theatre from
Futurism to the neoavanguardia. May’s interest in
concrete and visual poetry extended from using
visual poetry texts in first year literature classes
to his legendary examination papers, where he
used collage and typography to comment and to
stimulate discussion on any aspect of literature and
contemporary society.
The collection will continue to be available as a
teaching resource.