Page 41 - Studio International - October 1970

GROUP N, 1961 he criticizes the substance, never the shape, ALBERTO BIASI
[Excerpts from the catalogue of an exhibition yet both evolve from the function and are [from a clarification written in 1967]
contesting the cult of personality and the closely linked. These works can be considered `In 1965 the international Nouvelle Tendance
myth of artistic creativity] artistic: their concretization is determined not
On Saturday 18th March 1961 at 6 p.m. the by aesthetic ideas of beauty, but by qualita-
baker Giovanni Zorzon will exhibit his tive perfection. The essentiality of these works
`Edible Forms' (dimensions c. 15 x 10 x 5) renders them universal; they are not expres-
in the Group N Gallery in Via S. Pietro 3, sive of a personal inner world, and they serve
Padua. Born in Padua in 1912, he lives and a social function ... group n.'
works in Ferrara. 1921 apprentice in Peresin
bakery workshop; 1940 set up on his own : pur-
chased EMT electric furnace in 1952. Crisis
in 1955 caused by the substance, rather than
the form, of his product. At the present time
producing 260 kilos a day. For conservational
reasons the exhibition will be open for one day
only.
`The edible works created by baker Zorzon are
not signed. The man in the street accepts and
assimilates them with no difficulty. At times
movement, which seemed about to realize a
clear verification of all our ideas, ceased to
exist. This was partly due to economic
reasons, but above all because there was no
concerted effort to breach the gaps caused by
individual divergences, which had already
appeared in 1963. Evidently the Yugoslav
members, living in a socialist state, had not
foreseen the realistic problems of survival of
the western members. These problems of
survival resulted in competitive battles among
the operators living in capitalist countries,
since they were all directly dependent on an
arch-capitalist marketing system. From this
time on even those who had hung back before
all joined in the race for success. Nowadays
the various movements compete for their
moment of fortune in the favours of critics and
art markets. "My turn today, yours tomorrow"
has become the only moral imperative
respected in the tussle.'

[The following text was originally published in
the catalogue of the exhibition 'Amore mio'
(30.6.70-30.9.70) at Montepulciano, in which
the participants —Alviani, Pistoletto, Ceroli,
Oliva, etc—were invited to present not only
their own work, but also situations and
examples of other peoples' activity, past and
present, that had interested or influenced
them. In the original Italian this section
of Colombo and De Vecchi's contribution
is composed of 825 words by Brecht mingled
with 175 taken from an Italian dictionary.]
`Milan, Via Argellati— their studio.
An afternoon like any other. Colombo and De
Vecchi are chatting and visualizing structures.
Every so often they produce cubic volumes
and virtual volumes from the aesthetic cup-
board.
COLOMBO: Something new must happen.
DE VECCHI : Our task is arduous since it con-
sists of arousing human interest—
COLOMBO : There are a few things capable of
arousing human interest, but the trouble is
that with frequent use they lose their effective-
ness—