VILLA LONTANA

IMAGES FOR SOUNDS: Artist Covers for Music Records is the first exhibition at Villa Lontana to explore the medium of the music record, and above all of the album cover, as a potential artistic space open to the development of a visual language. The show unites more than 140 albums released since the 1950s together with artists’ covers conceived for the express purpose of giving images to sounds. The exhibition reflects on the collaboration between visual artists and musicians, playing on the duality between visual and sound material. In doing so, it focuses not on records made by artists but on artists’ covers for a variety of musical projects, which range from the odd casual collaboration to broad solutions for entire discographic series.

The main part of the exhibition draws from the extensive record collection of the musicologist, art historian and collector Giuseppe Garrera, featuring more than 100 records and artists’ covers. This section of the exhibition traces a history of artists’ covers within Italian music publishing from the 50s to the 90s, attempting to provide an initial survey of the subject in the absence of any major discographic collections or bibliographic studies, and emphasizing the visual-musical relation or experience of the album object. The idea of “collection” remains central to the curatorial development of Villa Lontana, as it hosts within it, and for the first time, another collection, and thus another archive of images and sounds— which allow for a new reading of an issue that has been examined in the past, albeit in a different key.

Two themed sections will be presented throughout the course of the exhibition. The first is an homage to the late Sylvano Bussotti, featuring a selection of his most radical and brilliant covers for his own sheet music. These too derive from Giuseppe Garrera’s collection, with many of them exhibited in public for the first time. The other section is dedicated to more international and often more contemporary collaborations.
This latter section will be in continuous evolution for the duration of the exhibition, with a regular rotation of different records borrowed from the collections and archives of the artists themselves or from the records’ respective labels. The musical contents of the exhibited records will provide the soundtrack to the exhibition— it too in continuous evolution and chosen by the viewers, who will be able, upon request, to listen to the music and so explore in space the visual translation of sounds into images, moving from the great masterpieces of classical music, to folk songs, to the experimental sounds of electronic music and techno tracks.
Download Press Release.

Invitations

Poster 70x100 cm, Folded

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Covers by Sol LeWitt for Philip Glass (Caroline Records, UK, 1974), Edith Schloss for Alvin Curran (Ananda, IT, 1975) and Irma Blank for New York Philarmonic Orchestra (Paragon, IT, 1981). At the back series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana

Covers by Giulio Paolini for Giorgio Gaslini (Columbia, IT, 1969), Michelangelo Pistoletto for Enrico Rava (ECM Records, DE, 1980). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana

Installation view of Sylvano Bussotti’s room. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

All works by Sylvano Bussotti, 1965-1979. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Sylvano Bussotti, Advertising postcard, Erato, 1970 ; Advertising booklet, Ricordi, 1970. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Sylvano Bussotti, Julio Organum Julii, score, Ricordi, 1968 (reissue of 1981). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Vetrine: Bergkristall, score, Ricordi, 1973. Il catalogo è questo III [Trittico], score, Ricordi, 1998. Il catalogo è questo IV [I Poemi], score, Ricordi, 1998. Il catalogo è questo II [Raragramma], score, 1985. All works by Sylvano Bussotti

Vetrine: La Passion Selon Sade, booklet, Ricordi, 1969. Press kit, Journées de Musique Contemporaine, 1970. RARA, score, Ricordi, 1967. Oggetto amato Nottetempo, booklet, Arti Grafiche Ricordi, 1976. All works by Sylvano Bussotti

Series of Luigi Ghirri’s covers realised for RCA Gold Seal in 1986

Series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. First install, 23 February – 16 March 2022

All covers by Josef Albers realised between 1959-1960 for Command. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022

All covers realised by Tauba Auerbach for Effi Briest (Loog Records, UK, 2007/2008), Up Died Sound (Bear Bones Recordings, US/CA, 2010), Greg Fox (RVNG Intl., US, 2017), Hiro Kone (Dais Records, US, 2019/2021), The Alps (Mexican Summer, US, 2011), Courtesy the artist. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022

All covers by Nathalie Du Pasquier realised in 2015 for Morphine Records. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022

Covers realised for Sonic Youth between 1990-2006 by Christopher Wool, Mike Kelley, Raymond Pettibon (Goofin’ Records, US and DGC, DE). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022

Retro: Emiliano Maggi, Salò, Malizia/Rogo, self-released, IT, 2021, Courtesy the artist

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. Second install, 17 March - 7 April 2022

Covers by Lucy McKenzie for Telebossa (Staubgold, EU, 2011) and Union Street (Mute Records, UK, 2016), Courtesy the artist ; Cinzia Ruggeri fro Mattia Bazar (Ariston Music, IT, 1984) ; retro by Luigi Ontani for Ninos Du Brasil (Hospital Productions, US, 2014) ; Nico Vascellari for Ninos Du Brasil (Tannen Records and Codalunga, IT, 2012/2021), Courtesy the artist ; Emma Kohlmann for Greg Fox (RVNG. Intl., US, 2020) and Superchunk (Merge Records, US, 2018) ; Kai Althoff for David Grubbs (Blue Chopsticks, USA, 2016). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 17 March - 7 April 2022

Covers by Andreco for Mai Mai Mai (Corpoc, IT, 2015), Courtesy the artist ; Emiliano Maggi for Estasy (Acéphale, US, 2012) and Sunflare (Bat Shit Records, US, 2012), Courtesy the artist ; David Kennedy Cutler for Lutto Lento (Peak Oil, US, 2020) ; Delia Gonzalez, Lorenzo Scotto di Luzio, Birgit Megerle, Piero Golia for This And That Records, ESP and Galleria Fonti, Naples (2012/2013).

Cover by Matteo Fato realised in 2021 for Sergio Endrigo and Vinicius de Moraes for Monitor Pereto, IT, Courtesy Giuseppe Garrera. At the back: series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. Third install, 8 April - 30 April 2022

Covers by Michael Snow for Steve Reich (Shandar, FR, 1970) ; Kai Althoff for Engelhardt/Seef/Davis coop (self-released, CA, 1997),Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin ; Kai Althoff for Workshop (Sonig, DE, 2001 and Finlayson, DE, 1990) ; Reverend Howard Finster for Talking Heads (EMI Records Ltd., UK, 1985) ; Wolfgang Tillmans for Tiga, ([PIAS] Recordings, Uma Was Here, BEL, 2006)

Covers by Urs Fischer for Yeah Yeah Yeah’s (Geffen Records, Dress Up, UK, 2009) ;Andro Wekua for Kreidler (Bureau B, DE, 2011) and Felix Profos (self-released 2014), Courtesy the artist ; Barbara Kruger for Consolidated (London Records, EU, 1994) ; Rita Ackermann for Thurston Moore (DGC, US, 1995) ; Cindy Sherman for Babes In Toyland (Southern Records, UK, 1992/1993)

Cover: Michael Snow, Steve Reich, Four Organs / Phase Patterns, Shandar, FR, 1970. Cover: Kai Althoff, Engelhardt/Seef/Davis coop, Untitled, self-released, CA, 1997, Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin

Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022

Installation view of Kai Althoff’s record Cereal Breakfast At Neil’s realised in 1996 by Ashley’s. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin. At the back series of Luigi Ghirri's covers realised for RCA Gold Seal in 1986

Kai Althoff’s record Cereal Breakfast At Neil’s realised in 1996 by Ashley’s. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana

All of Irma Blank, Sylvano Bussott, Francesco Clemente, Luigi Ghirri, Keith Haring, Sol LeWitt, Bruno Munari, Magdalo Mussio, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cloti Ricciardi, Mario Schifano, Edith Schloss, Cy Twombly and Luigi Veronesi’s works are courtesy Giuseppe Garrera.
Ph: Simon d’Exéa

IMAGES FOR SOUNDS: Artist Covers for Music Records is the first exhibition at Villa Lontana to explore the medium of the music record, and above all of the album cover, as a potential artistic space open to the development of a visual language. The show unites more than 140 albums released since the 1950s together with artists’ covers conceived for the express purpose of giving images to sounds. The exhibition reflects on the collaboration between visual artists and musicians, playing on the duality between visual and sound material. In doing so, it focuses not on records made by artists but on artists’ covers for a variety of musical projects, which range from the odd casual collaboration to broad solutions for entire discographic series.

The main part of the exhibition draws from the extensive record collection of the musicologist, art historian and collector Giuseppe Garrera, featuring more than 100 records and artists’ covers. This section of the exhibition traces a history of artists’ covers within Italian music publishing from the 50s to the 90s, attempting to provide an initial survey of the subject in the absence of any major discographic collections or bibliographic studies, and emphasizing the visual-musical relation or experience of the album object. The idea of “collection” remains central to the curatorial development of Villa Lontana, as it hosts within it, and for the first time, another collection, and thus another archive of images and sounds— which allow for a new reading of an issue that has been examined in the past, albeit in a different key

Two themed sections will be presented throughout the course of the exhibition. The first is an homage to the late Sylvano Bussotti, featuring a selection of his most radical and brilliant covers for his own sheet music. These too derive from Giuseppe Garrera’s collection, with many of them exhibited in public for the first time. The other section is dedicated to more international and often more contemporary collaborations.
This latter section will be in continuous evolution for the duration of the exhibition, with a regular rotation of different records borrowed from the collections and archives of the artists themselves or from the records’ respective labels. The musical contents of the exhibited records will provide the soundtrack to the exhibition— it too in continuous evolution and chosen by the viewers, who will be able, upon request, to listen to the music and so explore in space the visual translation of sounds into images, moving from the great masterpieces of classical music, to folk songs, to the experimental sounds of electronic music and techno tracks
Download Press Release.

• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Covers by Sol LeWitt for Philip Glass (Caroline Records, UK, 1974), Edith Schloss for Alvin Curran (Ananda, IT, 1975) and Irma Blank for New York Philarmonic Orchestra (Paragon, IT, 1981). At the back series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana
• Covers by Giulio Paolini for Giorgio Gaslini (Columbia, IT, 1969), Michelangelo Pistoletto for Enrico Rava (ECM Records, DE, 1980). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana
• Installation view of Sylvano Bussotti’s room. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• All works by Sylvano Bussotti, 1965-1979. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Sylvano Bussotti, Advertising postcard, Erato, 1970 ; Advertising booklet, Ricordi, 1970.
• IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Sylvano Bussotti, Julio Organum Julii, score, Ricordi, 1968 (reissue of 1981).
• IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Vetrine: Bergkristall, score, Ricordi, 1973. Il catalogo è questo III [Trittico], score, Ricordi, 1998. Il catalogo è questo IV [I Poemi], score, Ricordi, 1998. Il catalogo è questo II [Raragramma], score, 1985. All works by Sylvano Bussotti
• Vetrine: La Passion Selon Sade, booklet, Ricordi, 1969. Press kit, Journées de Musique Contemporaine, 1970. RARA, score, Ricordi, 1967. Oggetto amato Nottetempo, booklet, Arti Grafiche Ricordi, 1976. All works by Sylvano Bussotti
• Series of Luigi Ghirri’s covers realised for RCA Gold Seal in 1986
• Series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. First install, 23 February – 16 March 2022
• All covers by Josef Albers realised between 1959-1960 for Command. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022
• All covers realised by Tauba Auerbach for Effi Briest (Loog Records, UK, 2007/2008), Up Died Sound (Bear Bones Recordings, US/CA, 2010), Greg Fox (RVNG Intl., US, 2017), Hiro Kone (Dais Records, US, 2019/2021), The Alps (Mexican Summer, US, 2011), Courtesy the artist.
• IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022
• All covers by Nathalie Du Pasquier realised in 2015 for Morphine Records. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022
• Covers realised for Sonic Youth between 1990-2006 by Christopher Wool, Mike Kelley, Raymond Pettibon (Goofin’ Records, US and DGC, DE). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 16 March 2022
• Retro: Emiliano Maggi, Salò, Malizia/Rogo, self-released, IT, 2021, Courtesy the artist
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. Second install, 17 March - 7 April 2022
• Covers by Lucy McKenzie for Telebossa (Staubgold, EU, 2011) and Union Street (Mute Records, UK, 2016), Courtesy the artist ; Cinzia Ruggeri fro Mattia Bazar (Ariston Music, IT, 1984) ; retro by Luigi Ontani for Ninos Du Brasil (Hospital Productions, US, 2014) ; Nico Vascellari for Ninos Du Brasil (Tannen Records and Codalunga, IT, 2012/2021), Courtesy the artist ; Emma Kohlmann for Greg Fox (RVNG. Intl., US, 2020) and Superchunk (Merge Records, US, 2018) ; Kai Althoff for David Grubbs (Blue Chopsticks, USA, 2016). IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 17 March - 7 April 2022
• Covers by Andreco for Mai Mai Mai (Corpoc, IT, 2015), Courtesy the artist ; Emiliano Maggi for Estasy (Acéphale, US, 2012) and Sunflare (Bat Shit Records, US, 2012), Courtesy the artist ; David Kennedy Cutler for Lutto Lento (Peak Oil, US, 2020) ; Delia Gonzalez, Lorenzo Scotto di Luzio, Birgit Megerle, Piero Golia for This And That Records, ESP and Galleria Fonti, Naples (2012/2013).
• Cover by Matteo Fato realised in 2021 for Sergio Endrigo and Vinicius de Moraes for Monitor Pereto, IT, Courtesy Giuseppe Garrera. At the back: series of Bruno Munari’s covers realised for La Voce del Padrone between 1954-1961
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana. Third install, 8 April - 30 April 2022
• Covers by Michael Snow for Steve Reich (Shandar, FR, 1970) ; Kai Althoff for Engelhardt/Seef/Davis coop (self-released, CA, 1997),Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin ; Kai Althoff for Workshop (Sonig, DE, 2001 and Finlayson, DE, 1990) ; Reverend Howard Finster for Talking Heads (EMI Records Ltd., UK, 1985) ; Wolfgang Tillmans for Tiga, ([PIAS] Recordings, Uma Was Here, BEL, 2006)
• Covers by Urs Fischer for Yeah Yeah Yeah’s (Geffen Records, Dress Up, UK, 2009) ;Andro Wekua for Kreidler (Bureau B, DE, 2011) and Felix Profos (self-released 2014), Courtesy the artist ; Barbara Kruger for Consolidated (London Records, EU, 1994) ; Rita Ackermann for Thurston Moore (DGC, US, 1995) ; Cindy Sherman for Babes In Toyland (Southern Records, UK, 1992/1993)
• Cover: Michael Snow, Steve Reich, Four Organs / Phase Patterns, Shandar, FR, 1970. Cover: Kai Althoff, Engelhardt/Seef/Davis coop, Untitled, self-released, CA, 1997, Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin
• Installation view, IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana, 23 February – 30 April 2022
• Installation view of Kai Althoff’s record Cereal Breakfast At Neil’s realised in 1996 by Ashley’s. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin. At the back series of Luigi Ghirri's covers realised for RCA Gold Seal in 1986
• Kai Althoff’s record Cereal Breakfast At Neil’s realised in 1996 by Ashley’s. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin. IMAGES FOR SOUNDS, Villa Lontana

All of Irma Blank, Sylvano Bussott, Francesco Clemente, Luigi Ghirri, Keith Haring, Sol LeWitt, Bruno Munari, Magdalo Mussio, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cloti Ricciardi, Mario Schifano, Edith Schloss, Cy Twombly and Luigi Veronesi’s works are courtesy Giuseppe Garrera.
Ph: Simon d’Exéa

Invitations + Poster
A5 + 70x100 cm folded +, offset