NEON in collaboration with the Fondazione Merz presents the exhibition “Mario Merz: Numbers are prehistoric”. The exhibition is hosted at the Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens) and will last from October 22, 2015 to January 31, 2016.
The works of Mario Merz, a major figure of the Arte Povera movement, are exhibited in the Stathatos Mansion. This is the first museum exhibition in Greece of Mario Merz.
Total dedication
“Numbers are prehistoric” takes its title from a phrase in Mario Merz’s seminal book “I Want to Make a Book Right Now” (1989): “I numeri sono preistorici.” The statement reflects the urgency that animated the artist and his total dedication to, and engagement with art, politics, and life. With this phrase, Merz maintained that numbers existed before history and have progressed infinitely along with the evolution of the earth and the universe.
Merz’s work explores the notion of nature as a powerful, generous, and ever-expanding force that grows in the rational succession conceived by Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (c.1175−c.1240). The artist’s work centres on his belief that nature is an overriding presence and that its laws, at once brutal and sublime, regulate human activity all the way from issues of survival (as in the igloo) to social interaction and political action.
Notions of necessity
The exhibition comes at a crucial moment in Greece when notions of necessity and primary needs are being re-evaluated, giving the opportunity to re-examine ones’ ideas through varied examples of his oeuvre. With seminal works spanning from his famous igloos, to neon writings, painting and drawing, each highlights the artist’s preoccupation with the concept of basic human needs, the beauty and magic of natural growth, and at the same time acting as a powerful reminder of how politics are interwoven into the very cycles of existence and nature.
In the context of the exhibition an educational programme is implemented in cooperation with the organisation Thales + Friends. The programme addresses young people 12 – 15 years old. Participation is free.
The exhibition is curated by Paolo Colombo.
For more info: http://neon.org.gr, www.cycladic.gr
