Alighiero Boetti (Turin, 1940 – Rome, 1994) is one of the most original and beloved figures in twentieth-century Italian art. Self-taught, he made his debut in 1967 within the Turin Arte Povera circle, but quickly charted his own course — more conceptual, playful and international — eventually splitting himself into the celebrated dual persona Alighiero e Boetti.
At the heart of his practice lies the paradox between order and disorder, between the artist’s hand and another’s. From 1971 he travelled to Afghanistan, entrusting the embroiderers of Kabul with the realisation of the Mappe — embroidered world maps that registered political change edition after edition, until his death. Alongside the maps, a vast and coherent body of work: biro monochromes, Lavori postali, compositions of embroidered letters and phrases, and the Tutto — dense visual puzzles in which the entire world finds a place. He participated in the landmark When Attitudes Become Form in Berne (1969) and in the Venice Biennale in 1972, 1980 and 1990. His works are held at MoMA in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
