Expanding on the Mahler & LeWitt Studios and Viaindustriae ‘Art & Poetry’ residency session in Spoleto, Italy, An Incomplete A to Z for Art & Poetry, curated by Rachael Allen and Guy Robertson, explores the creative and collaborative potentialities between visual art and poetry. 

Rachael Allen was the first poet in residence at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios – a program of residencies and projects curated by Guy Robertson in Spoleto, based around the former studios of stone sculptor Anna Mahler and conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, as well as the Torre Bonomo. In 2020, Allen and Robertson, in partnership with the Viaindustriae Archive and the collection of Primo De Donno, organised the ‘Art & Poetry’ residency session. The residency offered research and development opportunities to a group interested in how language and visual art might exist in a mutually-dependent and collaborative sphere. 

An Incomplete A to Z for Art & Poetry has contributions from the artists, writers and curators involved in the ‘Art & Poetry’ residency session, as well as other former Mahler & LeWitt Studios residents, including: paintings by Adelaide Cioni, which propose an absurd relationship between text and image. A new poetry pamphlet by Sophie Collins, with writing relating to the work of Anna Mahler and research on John Cage at the Viaindustriae Archive. Visual poems by Will Harris, made in collaboration with graphic designers Matthew Stuart and Andrew Walsh-Lister. An installation of drawings by Marie Jacotey, illustrating her research on architecture and language. Collaborative paintings by the collective JocJonJosch, which rework poetry by Rachael Allen. Research diagrams by Joshua Leon, which work through key themes in his practice: companionship, fugitivity and love. An audio piece by curators Hana Noorali and Lynton Talbot, exploring the early computer poetry of Nanni Balestrini with AI interventions. A video installation of Episode 7 of Tai Shani’s The Neon Hieroglyph: set in Umbria, this CGI storyworld unfolds around experimental poetry and investigates psychedelics, feminism and myth. Diamond Stingily shows hergott dolls made at her Mahler & LeWitt Studios residency, alongside related writing. 

A number of artists’ books selected by Viaindustriae will be on show for viewing and research purposes. Books will also be on view from our featured publishers, Bricks from the Kiln, Monitor Books, Prototype and Slimvolume. 

A recording of poems by Jesse Darling, Edward Doegar, Edmund Hardy, Alan Fielden, isobel neviazsky, Lila Matsumoto, Lucy Mercer, Holly Pester and Stephen Watts will feature in the space. 

Also in situ will be works by Anna Mahler and Sol LeWitt and an archive of Mahler & LeWitt Studio’s publications and editions, with work from Allison Katz, Tom Lovelace, Sandy Smith, Julie Born Schwartz and Tai Shani. A film about the Mahler & LeWitt Studios program, directed by Gabriele Gianni and commissioned by the Fondazione Carla Fendi, will accompany the archive.  

Opening event: Friday 11 February, 18.00 – 21.00

The opening will include readings from Sophie Collins, Will Harris and Joshua Leon and an introduction to the exhibition from the curators. 

Closing event: Friday 25 February, 18.00 – 21.00

The closing event celebrates new work by a group of independent publishers who work with visual artists and poets, including: Bricks from the Kiln, (launching BFTK#5 and showing a short scripted lecture drawing from / across / through / around Bricks from the Kiln titled ‘A Polyvocal Index of Bricks from the Kiln. Or, an Incomplete A to Z for Art & Poetry’.), Slimvolume (launching JocJnJosch’s Almost one. Say again!), Prototype, with Lucy Mercer, Stephen Watts. Monitor Books will showcase a performance by Alan Fielden. 

Rachael Allen’s first collection of poems, Kingdomland, is published by Faber & Faber. She is the co-author of a number of collaborative artists’ books and poetry editor for Granta magazine and Granta Books. 

The Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Umbria IT, offers a program of artist residencies and projects, curated by Guy Robertson, using the former studios of stone sculptor Anna Mahler (1904-1988) and conceptual artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), as well as the Torre Bonomo. Rachael Allen was the first poet in residence and she was subsequently invited to guest curate the ‘Art & Poetry’ residency session in autumn 2020. For detailed information on the session please visit: mahler-lewitt.org/art_and_poetry. 

Viaindustriae and the connected De Donno Collection in Foligno, Umbria IT, has a renowned collection of artists’ books and related visual art and ephemera. Its holdings of concrete poetry, materials from the FLUXUS movement, and other areas of avant-garde and experimental writing provided the historical framework for the research and responses of the artists, poets and curators participating in the initial ‘Art & Poetry’ residency session. 

With thanks to: Ross Chalmers, Rory Cook, Tommaso Faraci, Laure Genillard, Hannah Barry Gallery, Bold Tendencies, The Multi-Story Orchestra, Granta Magazine, Gasworks, Sasha Havlicek, Contemporary Arts Society, Torben Pedersen, Matthew Stephenson Fine Art, David Tremlett

Supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK.