Franco Vaccari
Reise Nr. 1 nach Graz (Trip No. 1 to Graz, 1972) / Reise Nr. 2 nach Graz (Trip No. 2 to Graz, 1972)
Photo: N. Lackner / UMJ
Viaggi minimi (minimal journeys) is how artist Franco Vaccari (born 1936, Modena, Kingdom of Italy, lives in Modena) framed his practice centered on the idea of traveling. Active in the 1960s and 1970s, Vaccari was a central figure of Conceptual Art in Italy. In 1972, he was invited to take part in the seventh International Painting Weeks at Neue Galerie Graz. For this occasion, he developed a work about the very act of traveling from his hometown of Modena to Graz. It became part of the project 700 km di esposizione Modena Graz (700 km of exhibition Modena Graz, 1972), an exhibition conceived as a car ride between the two cities. Vaccari started this practice in 1969 with his “exhibitions in real time.” The exhibition was created “automatically”: the artist took pictures of trucks encountered along the way directly from his car. They are always seen from behind and framed as if they were traveling sculptures.
Reise Nr. 1 nach Graz (1972)
Photomontage on particleboard, 58 × 158 cm
Reise Nr. 2 nach Graz (1972)
Photomontage on particleboard, 58 × 138 cm
Neue Galerie Graz / Universalmuseum Joanneum