Self-historicization

The artistic development of Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (1914-1990), Italian art collector and artist, led to the invention of a ‘movement’ by the early 1970s, called autostoricizzazione or ‘self-historicization’. The actions, works and publications inspired by ego-centrism, self-aggrandizement, as well as the adaptation of art and cultural history to Cavellini – through their undisguised honesty – proved to be so successful that by the late 1970s Cavellini had become one of the leading figures of international correspondence art and mail art.

Using and exploiting the tools of the official art criticism and market, his art, conceptual self-promotion, ‘conquered’ the whole world through the network of correspondence art: hundreds of works literally praising Cavellini, as well as Cavellini homage actions and events came into being. He single-handedly wrote his ‘autobiography’ on walls, clothes and naked bodies during performances held in numerous parts of the world.

Cavellini’s most important connection in Hungary were György Galántai and Artpool. His unique ‘behavior art’ and extraordinary activity contributed to the launch of the Budapest Artpool project in 1979, whose objective, albeit for a different reason, was to circumvent ‘official art’.

Cavellini’s 1980 exhibition in Budapest organized by Artpool (in the Young Artists’ Club) as well as his joint performance with György Galántai and Júlia Klaniczay (on Heroes’ Square), took place immediately after his hugely popular two-week romp through California. The significant difference between his experiences in the USA and the Hungarian (European) experiences in Budapest, inspired Cavellini to include both these trips – drawing a parallel between them – in the travel accounts he was intent on publishing. Thus, the title became Cavellini in California and in Budapest, which was a rare match in book titles in the 1980s. This volume had a large circulation and soon made Artpool and the Hungarian, East-Central European cultural panorama known across the entire networker world.

Fully in line with his self-historicizing method, Cavellini designed his 100th jubilee exhibition, due in 2014, for which he sent a festive document to his artist friends authorizing them to act as his ‘masters of ceremony’.

The Cavellini tribute exhibition to run in the Ludwig Museum in June through August 2014 comprises a selection from the material of the 1980 Budapest exhibition, original and reproduced Cavellini works (giant posters, sheets of stamps, stickers, manifestos, publications, mail art and correspondence art pieces and videos, works by Hungarian artists inspired by Cavellini and his art, as well as photo-documents of the cooperation between Cavellini and Artpool.

The other part of the exhibition documents the 1980 performance titled Hommage a Vera Muhina put on together with Cavellini on Heroes’ Square in Budapest and the various venues of the ‘live statue’ by displaying some objects that survived, the clothed and posed dummies, as well as videos and photographs.

(György Galántai, master of ceremony)