Communes, Farms and Menhirs. Echaurren, Baruchello, Sottsass, and Male Domesticity
Jacopo Galimberti
Gianfranco Baruchello, Casa di canna e veli (House of bamboo cane and veils), 1974–1975, bamboo cane, tulle and cotton ribbons, 200 x 100 x 100 cm., destroyed
Domesticity and the material culture of the home are crucial themes for the works of numerous Italian female artists active in the 1960s and the 1970s. But how did the relationship to domesticity change in the work of male artists in those two decades? Comuni, fattorie e menhir explores this question in light of the materials held in the archives of the Echaurren Salaris Foundation. In particular, it will analyze the work of Ettore Sottsass, Gianfranco Baruchello, and Pablo Echaurren, three artists who were compelled to reflect upon the domestic space and the role of men within it by their encounters with feminism, the Beat Generation, and the communes of the 1970s.