Daniel Spoerri

Sculptor and performer, one of the most important founders of the Nouveau Réalisme (New Realism) movement, Daniel Spoerri has analyzed, in his whole research, the alchemical themes, merging his complex formation as artist, actor, dancer, chef, in an explosive and rich effort to unify the history and the memory of the mankind of all the spaces and eras. In 1942, after his father’s death, he moves to Switzerland with his family, his mother’s native country. He takes his mother’s surname and is granted Swiss citizenship. In 1959 with Jean Tinguely he realizes Autotheatre, where “the audience becomes actor and public”, at Hessenhuis in Antwerp. He decides to settle down in Paris to plan Edition MAT (Multiplication d’Art Transformable) with a strong wish to rid the artistic product of its unique nature through the mass reproduction in multiples so that as many people as possible can enjoy the artistic work and the underlying creative process. Several artists join MAT, such as Agam, Albers, Arp, Bury, Christo, Duchamp, Gerstner, Man Ray, Rainer, Roth, Saint-Phalle, Soto, Tinguely, Vasarely and others. In the same year he makes his first Tableaux-Pièges (Trap Pictures). Representative of this research is the artwork Aktion Restaurant, 9 May 1972. In 1960 Tinguely introduces Spoerri to Yves Klein; he signs the constitutive declaration of Nouveau Réalisme (New Realism movement) and participates in all the manifestations of the group. Trap Pictures are exhibited for the first time at Festival d’Art d’Avant-garde, Porte de Versailles, Paris. In 1963 the exhibition 723 utensiles de cuisine takes place at Gallery J, which is turned into a restaurant in the evenings: Aux fourneaux le chef Spoerri Daniel. Les critiques d’art assurent le service. Every dinner is matched by ‘menù-pièges’ consisting of remains left by table companions. For the rest of the year start the contacts with Fluxus. In 1970 he displays objects made in dough, at Gallery Al Vecchio Pastificio, Cavigliano, Switzerland. There is a long series of personal exhibitions by Lindner, Beuys, Ben Vautier, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Arman (accumulations of sausages, shrimps, cooked in jelly), César (compression of bonbons coated with chocolate) and Claude & Francois Lalanne present Le diner cannibale. Artworks are made by artists in personally selected materials and once they have been devoured, a signed certificate is issued to prove every specific artwork really existed. In Milan, on the tenth anniversary of Nouveau Réalisme, Spoerri prepares The Last Supper, Funeral Banquet of Nouveau Réalisme and, on Raymond Hains request, a Torte de Milan, Entremets de la Palissade, decorated with a thousand candles and cut by guest Professor Caramel. One year later in Amsterdam Spoerri realizes a series of 13 pictures, where shoes for children are caught in mouse traps. This series is entitled Les Dangers de la Multiplication. In 1983 the artist organizes at Centre Culturel du Montcel, Jouy-en-Josas, the Déjeuner sous l’Herbe: the 40 meters long Tableau piège of a banquet is laid underground. At Mirabellengertens in Salzburg, with the help of students of the Internationale Sommerakademie, he creates a labyrinth-intestinal route where visitors become part of the food which is chewed and finally discharged. One year later, still supported by students, he organizes a gustatory route through Munich’s ateliers. In Rome he realizes the series in bronze known as Warriors of the Night. Interesting artwork is Untitled, dated 1977, where the artist merges the poor and used fabric with the gold. In 1990 the Centre Georges Pompidou organizes the biggest retrospective of his production, which is also displayed later in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.