Giovanni Muro (i) -Deliberate entanglements

In the Spring of 1981 , with the Lyons show behind her and de Osma’s book on Fortuny published ( see Giovanni Muro (f)), Giulia was finally able to complete her long worked-on paper ,”Filament e Fibre”. This was her analysis of contemporary textile and fibre art and she would present it , in an English translation, to general acclaim at a colloquium held in Germany in May that year. As Giulia made clear in her introduction, her paper was , in part , a celebration of the 10 th anniversary of Bernard Kester’s curated exhibition at the Wight hall of UCLA in California entitled “Deliberate Entanglements” (that was broadly (and appropriately ) lauded as a catalyst for the art-form as it had subsequently developed , as it had brought together both leading European and North and South American practitioners and their work in one place ), and in part a revisionist analysis looking at the impact over the last ten years of new dye, patterning, optical and looming technologies on the fibre and textile arts , both facilitating the creation of the very large and the depiction of the very small. Giulia’s advocacy of the use of scientific processes and, in particular, optical magnification, both as a tool of analysis and a form of art in its own terms, with its dramatic shades, forms and contrasts, was particularly ground-breaking. Giulia also acknowledged in the introduction to the paper the close, supportative role that Christina had played in both shaping her thoughts and widening her frame of reference, though only a few who knew Christina very well would have appreciated the generosity of Christina’s efforts , that had been provided despite the background strains in her life caused by the suspected infidelities of her husband ,Christoforo. A consequence of Giulia’s increased profile was an invitation by the Yugoslav government for her to attend and speak at a conference happening late that Summer in Split to celebrate the work of Jagoda Buic, who Kester had brought to the show at UCLA and Giulia had discussed in some detail in her paper. Giulia had hoped that Giovanni would have wanted to go with her but he turned her down for reasons that did not really stack up and Giulia did not have the energy to challenge. So it was that come September Giulia headed off to Split on her own while Christina and Christoforo left for Sardinia to try and patch things up. Giulia’s time in Split went incredibly fast, attending the exhibition and the related lectures, giving her own presentation and enjoying, much to her surprise, the receptions , networking and social events, realising that being a designated speaker really did make a tremendous difference to her personal experience. Coming back on the ship to Venice Giulia recognised that she had made some important contacts and had possibilities for further speaking engagements, but that she had to maintain focus at all costs. As for Christina, when Giulia next visited her in her office at Fortuny, she saw that apart from a deep tan Christina had seemingly also brought back a long, dusty, rolled up strip of a blue ,denim material that Giulia quipped “Looked like the sky in the famous icon by Franghias Kavertgas”, but which now sat in pride of place on her friend’s otherwise immaculate desk, alongside a framed photo of a smiling Christina holding even more of the material and surrounded by people doing the same. Christina explained that while she had been in Sardinia she had gone to see Maria Lai, the island’s great textilist and cultural memorialist, who lived in Ulassai, in the hills to the east of the island . Christina’s visit had co-incided with the part- performance of a major narrative that Maria had created with the village, involving vast lengths of this material, processions, bread and a mountain climb, all of which had taken place over several days, although Christina had only participated during one afternoon.The whole narrative had been recorded , both on film and with photographs taken by the ubiquitous Gianni Berengo Gardin. “ Gardin!” Giulia exclaimed. “Why him? He doesn’t even like colour; he claims it leads to ....“disattentione”...” the last word dangling like a bug trapped between forceps.”Well” replied Christina , waving her hand in the air like she was shaking out an invisible handkerchief ,”he is a ‘name’ and people out there are insecure so it made them believe that it wasn’t just a mad thing dreamed up by Maria , but something that had real substance. Anyway, you’ll be able to see for yourself soon as the film should be ready by late October . Maria says she is going to colour in some of Gardin’s photos so as to emphasise the blueness of the ribbon and its significance and put them in a show.” Ordinarily all of this should have been of great interest to Giulia , but while she heard the words they were somewhat pushed back in her mind , for when Christina had waved her hand Giulia had noticed that her majestic wedding ring was not on her finger. Giulia fixed Christina with a fierce stare and then flicked her head towards the latter’s hand. “Ah yes, the ring. It’s gone and so has he, It’s over .” There was silence. Then they hugged. Scent. Warmth. The texture of clasped fabric. For a moment time flowed at different speeds. Later that Autumn Christina and Giulia visited together the exhibition at the Musee des tapisseries in Aix-en-Provence of Buic’s work ,curated by Marie-Henrietta Krotoff , called “Expression , Textile et Theatre”, and when they returned Giulia moved in with Christina, while not quite leaving Giovanni. This board contains images of some of the textile artists that Giulia was most interested in and supported , along with various stills from what became “ Legarsi alla Montagna”, Maria Lai’s film of those extraordinary days in September 1981. It is a celebration and honouring of six of the greatest creative spirits and artists of the last 50 years, who in the 1970’s emerged from across continents as the leading proponents of a minimalist, textile- based sculptural movement that despite the material fragility of much of their work and the challenge of permanent display and storage , may prove to be amongst the most influential of what lasts: - Jagoda Buic -Olga de Amerel - Maria Lai -Magdelana Abakanowicz - Sheila Hicks - Lenore Tawney This account has been enriched by a reading of Emily Zaiden’s essay “Deliberate Entanglements: the impact of a visionary exhibition”; 2014, for which thanks. Generally , and as ever, these images are here to celebrate and , in a modest way, inform; no infringement is intended.