Processes and Actions in Eliseo Mattiacci’s Research

This text explore in detail the renovation of Mattiacci`s work between the 1960`s and 1970’s, mapping the transition from object to action and performance. Mattiacci took part in the exhibition Arte Povera Im Spazio opening in 1967 at Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa. Although he was influenced by the stream of this art movement, he kept his statement independent from any labeling, and was able to provide a personal contribution to the renovation of the art of sculpting. He accomplished this by holding on to a personal procedural trajectory, one that carries the plastic object from environment to action. Throughout the sixties Mattiacci`s work was intended to act as an intervention of plastic forms into the public space, from urban landscape to nature; through the seventies his narrative evolved into the intimate exploration of behavioral action and transitioned eventually into a performance that involved the artist`s body. This personal choice reflected the wider cultural and socio-political climate of the Italian capital, and the whole country, as the lively opening of perspectives of 1968 escalated to the fearful public tension of the iron years (Anni di Piombo).