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拍品專文
This work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity from the Archivio Alighiero Boetti Rome, numbered 88/RT/4.
From a distance, the pulsing, dancing surface of Tutto coalesces into a manic blur. Approach the embroidery, though, and it becomes clear that this is a fun-filled tapestry of modern life. The constituent parts form myriad aspects of everyday life. From flowers to numbers, planes to guns, buildings to people, Tutto is full to the brim of fascinating details.
Initially conceived as early as the 1970s, it was only in 1982 that the first true Tutto was created. Its progenitor was the Pack, and the sequence of works of the same title that followed it. In his 1968 object Pack, a bowl was filled with cement, which was allowed to dry. In doing so, tiny cracks and fissures were created in the surface of the contained cement, resembling the gradual erosion and creation of a landscape. In this sense, Boetti had created a miniature vision of the world, a microcosmos, and this concept would come to play a key part in the evolution of the Tutto. While the embroidery and the cracked surface of Pack would appear superficially to have little to do with each other, they both involve the idea of creating a miniature reflection of the world that allows the viewer to contemplate its larger original. Thus in both Pack and Tutto, Boetti was seeking to mettere al mondo il mondo.
This phrase, which became a recurrent motif and mantra throughout his works, can be loosely translated as bringing the world into the world, or putting the world inside the world. Exemplifying the subjective and arbitrary pitfalls of translation that would have appealed to the artist himself, the phrase is impossible to translate exactly into English despite its apparent simplicity. And yet, if ever a visual translation were needed, it would come in the form of the Tutto. This embroidery, from 1988, displays a vast array of the facets of our existence and, by its bustling attention to such a variety of detail, implies universality. There is a completeness in this random, didactic window into our existence, as well as a deceptive simplicity in the cut-out forms from encyclopaedias and children's books that fill the embroidered surface. In this way, Tutto allows Boetti to bring a large part of the world into the world. As he said, 'The greatest joy on earth consists in inventing the world the way it is without inventing anything in the process' (Alighiero Boetti, quoted in exh. cat., Alighiero Boetti: Mettere al mondo il mondo, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 297).
It is not only in the sense of Tutto's cornucopia of the building blocks of everyday life that Boetti succeeds in bringing the world into the world, but also in the strange balance between order and disorder that the jumbled images reveal. The dichotomy in Boetti's work of ordine and disordine keyed into some of the deepest aspects of his work and his psyche. It was in parallel dualities that Boetti found so much truth in life, be it the duality of order and disorder, of Shaman and Showman, of Alighiero e Boetti, or of East and West. Tutto's very existence is openly due to this last, to the cooperation between Boetti and the embroiderers he commissioned in Peshawar. In his Tutto works especially, this cooperation becomes more explicit, for Boetti allowed the embroiders free-rein in selecting colours for the various constituent parts and symbols.
The embroiderers' rein was not entirely free, for Boetti insisted on a strict colour balance, on precisely the same amount of each thread being used in each Tutto. In this way, despite the chaotic appearance of the embroidery, there is a strong yet concealed sense of order overhanging the displayed constituent parts. Even the system of selecting the layout for Tutto has a certain arbitrary order, for Boetti arranged the various silhouettes of objects, letters and numbers according to their shape. He fitted them together, as was best possible, like an intricate jigsaw, leaving a vague and slightly flexible border around each shape. Thus while there is a certain randomness to the final appearance of Tutto, it has been organically formed under the influence of an arbitrary yet nonetheless functional order. Like so many of the systems that fascinated Boetti, this one is not immediately apparent, yet counterbalances Tutto's apparent visual chaos. As the artist stated, 'There is an exact order innate in each and every thing, even if it manifests itself in a disorderly manner' (Boetti, quoted in Ibid., p. 29).
The sense of hidden order that permeates Tutto echoes some of the beliefs inherent to Sufism, which for a long time fascinated Boetti. The artist spent much time in conversation with Sufi thinkers, especially the poet Berang, who became his informal master in these matters. The belief in nature as a reflection of God is central to much of the Sufi belief system, and is clearly invoked by Tutto, which permits the artist to fill a large wall-space with the details of the modern world. In this way, the viewer is facing a window, or rather a reflection of the world, contemplating the wondrous variety of existence briefly from an objective point of view. It is therefore fitting that letters, numbers and even their square roots jostle with the planes and animals of childrens' illustrated books in Tutto. Sufism derives great significance from letters and numbers and the values that are ascribed to each, using them to unlock many of the secret meanings of the world.
Boetti's interest in hidden systems of order dovetailed perfectly with Sufism's investigations into the layers of esoteric meaning and existence in the world. However, while Sufism involves constant investigation in the quest for spiritual truth and enlightenment, Boetti remains more interested in pointing to the existence of such systems in the world. He is fascinated by the existence of these keys to the world, and enthusiastically points them out to his viewers, but without ever pretending to the privilege of hidden knowledge. In this sense, looking at Tutto is a first step, Boetti taking us by the hand and inviting us to appreciate the intricate and infinite web of order, design and meaning in the universe around us. Boetti only hints at the codes that underlie life and existence: in Tutto the esoteric meanings remain hidden, yet the existence of their medium is revealed.
From a distance, the pulsing, dancing surface of Tutto coalesces into a manic blur. Approach the embroidery, though, and it becomes clear that this is a fun-filled tapestry of modern life. The constituent parts form myriad aspects of everyday life. From flowers to numbers, planes to guns, buildings to people, Tutto is full to the brim of fascinating details.
Initially conceived as early as the 1970s, it was only in 1982 that the first true Tutto was created. Its progenitor was the Pack, and the sequence of works of the same title that followed it. In his 1968 object Pack, a bowl was filled with cement, which was allowed to dry. In doing so, tiny cracks and fissures were created in the surface of the contained cement, resembling the gradual erosion and creation of a landscape. In this sense, Boetti had created a miniature vision of the world, a microcosmos, and this concept would come to play a key part in the evolution of the Tutto. While the embroidery and the cracked surface of Pack would appear superficially to have little to do with each other, they both involve the idea of creating a miniature reflection of the world that allows the viewer to contemplate its larger original. Thus in both Pack and Tutto, Boetti was seeking to mettere al mondo il mondo.
This phrase, which became a recurrent motif and mantra throughout his works, can be loosely translated as bringing the world into the world, or putting the world inside the world. Exemplifying the subjective and arbitrary pitfalls of translation that would have appealed to the artist himself, the phrase is impossible to translate exactly into English despite its apparent simplicity. And yet, if ever a visual translation were needed, it would come in the form of the Tutto. This embroidery, from 1988, displays a vast array of the facets of our existence and, by its bustling attention to such a variety of detail, implies universality. There is a completeness in this random, didactic window into our existence, as well as a deceptive simplicity in the cut-out forms from encyclopaedias and children's books that fill the embroidered surface. In this way, Tutto allows Boetti to bring a large part of the world into the world. As he said, 'The greatest joy on earth consists in inventing the world the way it is without inventing anything in the process' (Alighiero Boetti, quoted in exh. cat., Alighiero Boetti: Mettere al mondo il mondo, Frankfurt, 1998, p. 297).
It is not only in the sense of Tutto's cornucopia of the building blocks of everyday life that Boetti succeeds in bringing the world into the world, but also in the strange balance between order and disorder that the jumbled images reveal. The dichotomy in Boetti's work of ordine and disordine keyed into some of the deepest aspects of his work and his psyche. It was in parallel dualities that Boetti found so much truth in life, be it the duality of order and disorder, of Shaman and Showman, of Alighiero e Boetti, or of East and West. Tutto's very existence is openly due to this last, to the cooperation between Boetti and the embroiderers he commissioned in Peshawar. In his Tutto works especially, this cooperation becomes more explicit, for Boetti allowed the embroiders free-rein in selecting colours for the various constituent parts and symbols.
The embroiderers' rein was not entirely free, for Boetti insisted on a strict colour balance, on precisely the same amount of each thread being used in each Tutto. In this way, despite the chaotic appearance of the embroidery, there is a strong yet concealed sense of order overhanging the displayed constituent parts. Even the system of selecting the layout for Tutto has a certain arbitrary order, for Boetti arranged the various silhouettes of objects, letters and numbers according to their shape. He fitted them together, as was best possible, like an intricate jigsaw, leaving a vague and slightly flexible border around each shape. Thus while there is a certain randomness to the final appearance of Tutto, it has been organically formed under the influence of an arbitrary yet nonetheless functional order. Like so many of the systems that fascinated Boetti, this one is not immediately apparent, yet counterbalances Tutto's apparent visual chaos. As the artist stated, 'There is an exact order innate in each and every thing, even if it manifests itself in a disorderly manner' (Boetti, quoted in Ibid., p. 29).
The sense of hidden order that permeates Tutto echoes some of the beliefs inherent to Sufism, which for a long time fascinated Boetti. The artist spent much time in conversation with Sufi thinkers, especially the poet Berang, who became his informal master in these matters. The belief in nature as a reflection of God is central to much of the Sufi belief system, and is clearly invoked by Tutto, which permits the artist to fill a large wall-space with the details of the modern world. In this way, the viewer is facing a window, or rather a reflection of the world, contemplating the wondrous variety of existence briefly from an objective point of view. It is therefore fitting that letters, numbers and even their square roots jostle with the planes and animals of childrens' illustrated books in Tutto. Sufism derives great significance from letters and numbers and the values that are ascribed to each, using them to unlock many of the secret meanings of the world.
Boetti's interest in hidden systems of order dovetailed perfectly with Sufism's investigations into the layers of esoteric meaning and existence in the world. However, while Sufism involves constant investigation in the quest for spiritual truth and enlightenment, Boetti remains more interested in pointing to the existence of such systems in the world. He is fascinated by the existence of these keys to the world, and enthusiastically points them out to his viewers, but without ever pretending to the privilege of hidden knowledge. In this sense, looking at Tutto is a first step, Boetti taking us by the hand and inviting us to appreciate the intricate and infinite web of order, design and meaning in the universe around us. Boetti only hints at the codes that underlie life and existence: in Tutto the esoteric meanings remain hidden, yet the existence of their medium is revealed.