The Mannequin of History: Art After Fabrications of Critique and Culture (criticism/theory)
By Richard Milazzo.

Designed by Richard Milazzo.
First edition deluxe hardback:  September 2015.
With an Italian translation by Brunella Antomarini and Pietro Traversa.
352 pages, with a 4-colour gatefold jacket, 188 color and 38 black and white reproductions.
13.5 x 9.75 x 2 in. (39.3 x 24.8 x 10.2 cm.), printed, sewn, and bound in Modena, Italy.
ISBN-13:  978-88-570-1021-2.
Modena, Italy:  Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, 2015.

RETAIL PRICE: $90.00 (includes postage and handling)

On the occasion of EXPO MODENA 2015, Modena City Council, with the patronage of Region Emilia-Romagna in collaboration with APT Servizi srl and Confindustria Modena, presented an international exhibition of contemporary art, The Mannequin of History: Art After Fabrications of Critique and Culture, curated by Richard Milazzo, and taking place at MATA, the newly renovated Manifattura Tabacchi building which will function as a new cultural center in the future, in Modena, Italy, from September 18, 2015 to January 31, 2016.  The exhibition was accompanied by a major book of theory and criticism.

The exhibition and book included 48 artists from 11 countries (Italy, Libya, Great Britain, Switzerland, Panama, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Iran, China, and America): William Anastasi, Donald Baechler, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Carlo Benvenuto, Ross Bleckner,  Alighiero e Boetti, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Gregory Crewdson, Enzo Cucchi, Gino De Dominicis, Nicola De Maria, Urs Fischer, Nan Goldin, Felix González-Torres, Andreas Gursky, Peter Halley, Jenny Holzer, Mark Innerst, Alex Katz, Anselm Kiefer, Louise Lawler, Annette Lemieux, Robert Longo, Allan McCollum, Malcolm Morley, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Luigi Ontani, Mimmo Paladino, Richard Prince, Thomas Ruff, David Salle, Salvo, Mario Schifano, Julian Schnabel, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Haim Steinbach, Philip Taaffe, Wolfgang Tillmans, Franco Vaccari, Meg Webster, Chen Zhen.

In a chapter by chapter analysis, the critic and curator Richard Milazzo discusses in detail each of the artists’ contribution to the exhibition and their work in general.  In the course of his analysis he argues that “art has been turned into a spectacle, not only by the auction houses, art fairs, commercial galleries, museums, collectors and corporate consortiums, but also by the critics, curators (myself included), and the media, in general, and, to a certain extent, by the artists themselves.  Art, as a result, within this spectacle, has been turned into a mannequin.

“In Goya’s cartoon for the tapestry, The Straw Mannikin (1791-92), the figure is tossed into the air by the celebrants, four maidens, holding a blanket.  The pretext is a rural and rustic celebration, not unlike this EXPO in Modena or the Venice Biennale, and the presumption is that the maidens will catch him when he falls.  If we read this image allegorically, the basic reality is that the figure of the mannequin-as-art is being tossed (up, down, around) by all involved in the celebration, in the games or the spectacles of critique (this one included) and culture.”  The author goes on to ask:  “In defense of itself, has art, in fact, generated a meta-Spectacle, as it were, to counter the constructions or fabrications of history?  In what manner has art formulated or conceptualized itself not so much to protect itself but to elude this fate, its destiny, as a mannequin of history?  In the end, is the construction of a meta-Spectacle sufficient to combat the mannequinization of history, whether it is the history of art, critique or culture?”