Marisa Merz. Il cielo è grande spazio / The Sky is Great Space

This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg in 2018 and is a compact German-language version of the more comprehensive English-language edition. This monograph, which brings together fifty years of paintings, sculptures and installations by the celebrated Italian artist Marisa Merz, accompanies a major US and European retrospective of Marisa Merz’s work.

This generously illustrated book offers readers the chance to appreciate the range of works by Marisa Merz, winner of the 2013 Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale. This volume traces Merz’s artistic evolution from early experiments with non-traditional materials and processes, to intricately constructed installations of the 1970s and the enigmatic ceramic heads of the 1980s and 1990s. Authoritative essays explore the rise of international women’s art in the 1960s and ’70s and Merz’s own place in Italy’s postwar art history. As the sole female protagonist of Arte Povera and one of the few Italian women to exhibit in major venues internationally, her practice is little known to audiences outside of Italy. Merz’s challenging and evocative body of work is deeply personal and resistant to the categories of art history, including Arte Povera with which she was closely associated. Previously unpublished texts and poetry by the artist, exhibition views of the Salzburg installation and an illustrated list of works, round out this comprehensive look at an enormously influential artist.