Danna Olgiati: "Art, beauty of life"

It is definitely "A Collection in Progress", it never stops. Both in its size, given that it punctually enriches itself with new works, and in its presentation to the public, a constant reference despite the recent pandemic. The Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection lives and pulsates with the city as confirmed by the current, extensive attention to the work of Pietro Consagra, who enters into dialogue with the public but also with a new, specific layout of the Collection.

Collection-public-city of Lugano: a desired relationship?

"Of course. We regularly exhibit our Collection to the public based on an ambitious project also towards the city. The Collection also exists because we are committed to exhibiting it and we have promised to donate it to the City of Lugano through MASI, of which it is already an integral part of the exhibition circuit ».

An ambitious project born ...

«It comes from the chance meeting with Giancarlo Olgiati. It was 1985 at SIMA in Venice, the international art fair where the best European and American galleries were invited to present art trends. Giancarlo participated as a collector, I as a gallery owner. That meeting produced a life choice on an emotional level and a collecting project. On this basis, the Collection started from a clear project: to represent the art of the 900th century in particular Italian with a constant reference to the historical avant-gardes ».

You already had excellent credentials in the art sector ...

«I was a professional, with two other partners with the Fonte d'Abisso Gallery in Modena, the first to document the link between Futurism and other European avant-gardes with exhibitions and catalogs. A second gallery was then born in Milan, always dedicated to the historical avant-gardes with the deepening of Italian Futurism at the center. We must not forget that a serious gallery owner not only exhibits and sells, but also conducts research, for which the curatorial aspect is fundamental. I fall into this category of gallery owners, I consider myself a researcher ».

The books and catalogs with his essays say it, the contents and vitality of the Futurist Archive confirm it ...

«It brings together 1250 titles of futurist books, all original and rare editions, as well as posters, newspapers, magazines, documents and autographed writings collected during my professional career. The Futurist Archive was created for study and research purposes, it is considered one of the three most important in the world, it has become a real Collection in the Collection and is present in our exhibition space ".

Let's go back to that Venetian meeting and its premises ...

«I had started the activity in 1978 in Modena by inaugurating the Fonte d'Abisso Gallery with an exhibition by Piero Manzoni, confirming the interest in the avant-gardes of art starting from the Italian ones, which focus on the study of matter. Everything starts from that first exhibition and from the interest in Futurism, where matter is light. Light always returns to the avant-garde, helping to define the concept of space, just think of Lucio Fontana. That exhibition on Piero Manzoni was curated by Vanni Scheiwiller, author of the first important Manzoni catalog. The interest in the art of the 50s and 60s, which I have dealt with a lot, is grafted onto Italian Futurism and the European avant-gardes, authentic revolutions of art, culture and thought ».

Does the Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection reflect all this?

«Of course, it reflects our cultural path. On my side it was born from the activity of gallerist and scholar starting from the early 900s between Futurism and the European avant-gardes strongly linked to the Italian Futurists. Central is the figure of Marinetti, authentic propeller of the futurist revolutionary message. He traveled throughout Europe and in particular in Russia, influencing the great avant-garde artists of that country before the Bolshevik revolution.

My first steps in the exhibition of the Futurists begin with Fortunato Depero, who together with Enrico Prampolini represented the second generation of the Futurist movement in the most innovative way ».

Depero, in fact, which you have been very busy with ...  

“First of all for biographical reasons. Emilian by family, I was born in Rovereto, like Depero. I therefore had the opportunity to contact collectors, to deepen documents and works. Depero's work leads directly into Futurism, which at that time in Italy was not highly regarded even for some real or alleged contacts with fascism. But on a historical level, Futurism clearly precedes fascism, the Manifesto dates back to 1909. The Futurists were movementists, against the rules, war was speed ... The first Depero of 1916-17, the Speeds of 1913 and the cycle of the Seasons of ' 16 by Giacomo Balla have nothing political or ideological that could presage Fascist outcomes. They were works of the most innovative abstract art. The fact that in the post-war period Futurism was compared to the fascist era and therefore not taken into serious consideration allowed me to make exhibitions and recover important works, which allowed me to participate with loans in the great exhibition Futurism & Futurisms in 1986 in Venice, Palazzo Grassi, then owned by FIAT. Gianni Agnelli had a predilection for the work of Giacomo Balla ».

Here too a starting point ...

"Or, rather, confirmation, since in addition to the exhibitions in the Gallery, for which I was well known, I had worked a lot on Balla's catalog raisonné, important for me as a personal research, published by the Gallery and still a reference publication on this central figure of Futurism and of the avant-garde in general. The filing and archiving of all the works, months and months at the home of the Balla sisters, was fascinating, a story of study and great passion ».

Then the Italian-American artists with whom the Gallery closes in 2010; their works act as a seam in the current Lugano exhibition between Consagra and the specific choices of the Collection ...

«The exhibition was entitled 'Italo Americans, art between the USA and Italy from reconstruction to boom'. The Rome-New York connection was also fruitful in demonstrating how international the art world was since the mid-900s. I have always considered the relationship between Italian art and the avant-garde of Western cultural matrix to be important. It is also one of the foundations of our Collection. We continue to develop this comparison through a look that from the first avant-gardes to the poor art and reaches the art of our time. Confirming the opening of the Collection to the contemporary ».

What is the relationship between the private dimension and the Collection?

«My story, first as a gallery owner and then as a collector with Giancarlo, is based on historical connections, on our personal experiences, on the close relationship with artists, men and women, exhibitions and works. The exhibitions have always been accompanied by catalogs. The book remains an indispensable tool and also arises from the relationships with the curators, from the comparison of my, our ideas about an author or an exhibition with specialists in the field, to formulate a project together. I have never entrusted an exhibition without entering into its development, just as we have never included a work in the Collection that was not also necessary on a personal level ».

A life project that continues ...

“It is unthinkable for me to live without art. From the beginning it was a choice of passion and openness. You do not feel the obvious difficulties because passion is stronger than problems. I think it's an almost chromosomal fact, the physical relationship with the work is part of my DNA, so to speak. The Collection is a life project that helps to live better. Giancarlo and I had a lot of fun, and still is, in attending artists, galleries, exhibitions, interesting characters with passions similar to ours. Collecting introduces you to a world of quality. Taking care of the Collection means committing oneself and assuming responsibility, but I can say that beauty also helps to strengthen private relationships ».