SELF-REPRESENTATION AS “SELF-DIVESTMENT”? EPIGONISM AND SINGULARITY IN VETTOR PISANI’S THE CHAMBER HERO AT DOCUMENTA 5 (1972)

Abstract

Harald Szeemann’s fifth documenta exhibition of 1972 emphasised not yet canonized art practices, displayed under the heading of ‘individual mythologies’. In this section, a new self-centred attitude unfolded. Since the artist’s authority and authoriality had been widely questioned by then, the selected positions encountered critical reception. Among the most discussed works we find Italian artist Vettor Pisani’s performance The Chamber Hero. Staged in the ‘self-representation’ wing of the ‘individual mythologies’ section, in the reviewers’ eyes it embodied a radical withdrawal of art from social concerns. At a closer look, however, the critics’ readings significantly differed from the artist’s intention. Focusing on the performance from different perspectives, this essay reconstructs its multifaceted interpretation in 1972 and casts light on the conception of subjectivity at stake in the work, which intertwines epigonism and singularity.