Ugo Carrega

Ugo Carrega was born in Genoa, in the Pegli neighborhood, on 17 August 1935.[3][4][5] His father was Lelio Carrega, naval officer, and his mother was Maria Teresa Repetti, housewife. Carrega studied at the religious high school managed by the Piarists in Cornigliano, and then in a few private schools, without achieving a diploma.[3] In 1955, he was pushed by his parents to travel to London to learn the profession of shipping agent, and there he became proficient in the English language.[3][5] The following year he returned to Italy and worked as a shipping agent, then since 1963 as a translator for various publishers.[3][5] Since he was a child he wrote poems, and in 1952 he collected them under the title Verde la casa (Green the House). The second collection, from 1955, is titled Per il cielo di Fiandra (For the Sky of Flander). Initially Carrega's poetry was inspired by Gabriele D'Annunzio, Dino Campana, Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi and Camillo Sbarbaro, but after discovering James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and E. E. Cummings he started experimenting with new linguistic forms based on the broadening of the semantic extension of the word.[3][5]

In 1958, Carrega started working with Martino Oberto, and it was through this collaboration that he began his activity as a verbo-visual artist.[3][4] In 1963, he became editor of the magazine Ana eccetera, directed by Martino Oberto and his wife Anna Bontempi.[2] In 1965, he published in the magazine the article Analisi grafica del linguaggio. Rapporto tra il poeta e il suo lavoro, a true theoretical program where he presented his ideas about art and poetry.[2][3][4][5] From literary positions, Carrega proposed the foundation of a new language integrating the alphabetic script with graphical elements of a different nature.[3] The cornerstone of the work of the verbo-visual artist is the written page intended as an "instrument-in-itself-of expression". The elements that form the page are the verbal element and the graphical one, which constitute respectively the "technical relationship" and the "essential relationship" that is tied to the energy of the organization of the written page.

On the basis of the experience of Ana eccetera, in 1965 Carrega founded the magazine Tool with Rodolfo Vitone, Lino Matti, Vincenzo Accame, Rolando Mignani, and Liliana Landi.[2][3][4][5] Like Ana eccetera, Tool aims to extend the area of writing through an analysis and restructuring of languages, but in a more practical way. The magazine, whose name refers to the tool of the poet, is published in six mimeographed notebooks in which the use of the mimeograph is chosen to give immediate emphasis to the graphical signs. In Tool there will be a concrete elaboration of "symbiotic writing", a form of experimental poetry in which signs of different nature act in a harmonious way.[3][5] Starting from the idea of the "Global Page", an ideal place where writing is enriched by expressions and graphical signs, Carrega defines "symbiotic writing" as a form of writing that visualizes not only an interaction, but a symbiosis between verbal and graphical signs.[3]

In Tool, Carrega lists the six conceptual categories of graphical and verbal expression that freely combine in the space of the white page: phonetic element, prepositional element, lettering, graphics, shape, color.[2][3] Carrega's work finds original combinations between words, the writing medium and the contamination with other con altri materials from which emerge innovative experiments such as: transparent papers, poemobiles, arronsignite papers, stone-cakes, sbrinciate, verbal permutators, etc.[3] Since 1967 symbiotic writing is called “New Writing”, necessary "to extend the field of action to research spaces that have become more and more vast", but this new definition will become active only in 1974.[2][3][4] The following year Carrega signed the manifesto of New Writing with Vincenzo Accame, Martino and Anna Oberto, Corrado D'Ottavi, Rolando Mignani, Liliana Landi, and Vincenzo Ferrari.[4]

In 1966, Carrega moved to Milan, artistic junction of verbo-visual research.[3][4][5] In 1969, he founded and directed the Centro Suolo (Soil Center), a center for research and sharing of advanced poetry, with Antonio Agriesti, Alfonso Galasso, Giustino Gasbarri, Tomaso Kemeny, and Raffaele Perrotta.[4][5] The center, located in via Morgagni 35 in Milan, aimed to stimulate and promote poetic research through frequent exhibitions. At the Centro Suolo, Carrega organized the first international exhibition of "advanced poetry". The center closed down a few months later. In May 1970, Carrega's works were exhibited for the first time in the Arturo Schwarz gallery in Milan. Since that moment he abandoned his job of translator to work full-time on his art and the promotion of that of fellow visual artists.[3][5] Since the end of the 1960s, he increased his activity of cultural promoter and exhibition organizer with the foundation of other cultural centers dedicated to verbo-visual research.

In April 1968, Carrega began publishing Bollettino Tool (Tool Bulletin), a new aperiodical magazine collecting news and examples of advanced poetry including works by Vincenzo Accame, Mirella Bentivoglio, Gianni Bertini, Henri Chopin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Eugen Gomringer, Anselm Hollo, Emilio Isgrò, Marcello Landi, Ugo Locatelli, Arrigo Lora Totino, Stelio Maria Martini, Eugenio Miccini, Magdalo Mussio, Sarenco, Franco Vaccari, and Ben Vautier. From February to June 1969, Carrega and Mario Diacono published the magazine aaa.[2][6] The magazine continued the work of Tool, publishing documents of visual, concrete and total poetry including contributions by Vincenzo Accame, Luciano Caruso, Carlfriedrich Claus, Hans Clavin, Davanzo & Gunzberg, Antonio Dias, Jean Françoise Dillon, Jan Hamilton Finlay, Stelio Maria Martini, Rolando Mignani, Jean Claude Moineau, Ito Motoyuki, Hidetoshi Nagasawa, Joel Rabinowitz, Giose Rimanelli, Shohachiro Takahashi, and lastly Emilio Villa, who since the 1960s became a sort of "godfather" for Carrega.[5][6]

In January 1971, Carrega founded a new exhibition space: the Centro Tool (Tool Center), located in via Borgonuovo 20 in Milan, that continued the research of Centro Suolo e di pubblicare con lo stesso nome le ricerche del centro stesso.[4][5] The center continued its activities until January 1972, organizing 21 exhibitions of visual poetry. In February of the same year Carrega founded the magazine Bollettino da dentro (Bulletin from Inside), in which he collected reports about his works.[6] In October, with help from Vincenzo Ferrari, he re-opened the Centro Tool, organizing enquiries and exhibitions. In June 1973 the center closed its activities with an exhibition-enquiry in three stages: Card from the Word, Bodies, and Moments. In the same year he created with Ferrari and Claudio Salocchi the Centro di ricerca non finalizzata (Non-finalized Research Center).[5]

In April 1974, the artist opened a new gallery called “Mercato del Sale” (Salt Market), honoring Marcel Duchamp (who had been called Marchand du Sel by Robert Desnos in 1921), whose activity was dedicated to the concept of a New Writing (Nuova Scrittura).[2][4][5] The gallery, first located in via Borgonuovo 20, was transferred to a new venue in via degli Orti 16 in 1980.[2] Sono importantissime in particolare le mostre Raccolta italiana di Nuova Scrittura (1977) e SCRITTURA ATTIVA. Processi artistici di scrittura in dodici dimostrazioni ESpositive (1979–1980).[2] In 1982 Carrega supported the "Artescrittura" writing a short manifesto signed by Vincenzo Ferrari, Luca Patella, and Magdalo Mussio.[5] In 1986 he collaborated with Sarenco, Eugenio Miccini, Lamberto Pignotti, and Stelio Maria Martini to re-found visual poetry.[4] In 1993 he founded the new center Euforia Costante (Constant Euphory), a name that homaged Marcel Duchamp. This new experience ended in 1994, after having hosted a few exhibitions including one about the work of Nanni Balestrini.

In 1988 Paolo Della Grazia, collector of works of the verbo-visual movements since the 1960s, founded the Archivio di Nuova Scrittura (Archive of New Writing, ANS) with the help of Carrega.[2][5][7] The ANS continues the experience of the Mercato del Sale, being hosted in the same venue in via Orti 16.[2][7] The ANS documentation center and library were subsequently expanded and currently constitute an exceptional body of knowledge about the national and international verbo-visual movements.[2][7] The documentary heritage of the ANS is now part of the Archivio del '900 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto. Most of the artworks are preserved at the Museion in Bolzano.[2][7]