E il Topo (art group)
E IL TOPO was an international artist-run magazine and art collective founded in Naples, Italy, in 1992. Conceived as an artist-run publishing project, it used the magazine format as a space for artworks, editorial experiments, performances, and collaborative projects. The magazine was founded by Gabriele Di Matteo and Franco Silvestro, with Armando della Vittoria, Piero Gatto, and Vedova Mazzei.
After an initial period of activity from 1992 to 1996, the project was reactivated in 2012 by a new intergenerational editorial group. Its final phase culminated in the publication of a two-volume retrospective compendium, E IL TOPO. Storia di una rivista d’artista con un’insolita strategia editoriale, and a closing event at Casa degli Artisti in Milan in March 2024.
History
The magazine E IL TOPO was founded in 1992 in Naples by Gabriele Di Matteo and Franco Silvestro, together with Armando della Vittoria, Piero Gatto, and Vedova Mazzei. Initially conceived as an artist-run publishing project, E il Topo did not follow a regular publication schedule or conventional editorial structure. A performance launch called The Blind Man was held in 1992 at Viafarini, a non-profit art space in Milan. Both the blind man character and the magazine's two dogs logo, are references to Marcel Duchamp's seminal 1917 publications, The Blind Man and Rongwrong.
During its first phase, from 1992 to 1996, the project has published ten issues, involving a network of approximately twenty contributors, assembling different artists and authors according to specific issues and collaborations. Participants have included Stefano Arienti, Massimo Bartolini, Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan, Mark Dion, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Eva Marisaldi, Miltos Manetas, Amedeo Martegani, Art Club 2000 and Cesare Viel among others.
After the publication of its first ten issues, E IL TOPO ceased activity in 1996. It was reactivated in 2012 with the issue Rebirth, developed by a newly assembled group of intergenerational independent artists operating collectively as the magazine's editorial body.
Rebirth
From 2012 to 2024, E IL TOPO resumed its activities through the production of new issues, exhibitions, and performative events presented in various international contexts. During its run, the project published more than thirty issues of its eponymous magazine.
The Rebirth act took place over a month of performances in Milan, Care/of DOCVA.
E IL TOPO. History of an artists' magazine with an unusual editorial strategy
In 2024, E IL TOPO concluded its activities with the publication of a two-volume compendium of approximately 1,000 pages, reproducing the complete series of the magazine at a 1:1 scale and incorporating, for the first time, a retrospective critical framework addressing its history. The volume is published by Viaindustriae, Milano.
Artists
Founding members: Armando della Vittoria (fictional), Gabriele di Matteo, Franco Silvestro, Piero Gatto, Vedova Mazzei.
First era contributing artists: Manlio Caropreso, Maurizio Elettrico, Eva Marisaldi, Luca Quartana, Maurizio Cattelan, Grazia Toderi, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Emanuela De Cecco, Emilio Fantin, Cesare Viel, Art Club 2000, Mark Dion, Stefano Arienti, Amedeo Martegani, Massimo Bartolino, Vanessa Beecroft, Ivo Bonacorsi, Piero Cavellini, Tommaso Corvi Mora, Premiata Ditta, Maurizio Donzelli, Luisa Lambri, Saverio Lucariello, Miltos Manetas, Liliana Moro, Alessandro Pessoli, Sergio Risaliti, Laura Ruggieri, Federico Tanzi Mira, Berth Theis, Grazia Toderi, Cesare Viel, Luca Vitone.
Arists on the editorial board (from 2012 to 2024): Guillaume Clermont, Gabriele Di Matteo, Francesco Fossati, Giovanna Francesconi, Gabriela Galati, Piero Gatto, Martin Giménez Larralde, Antonio Grulli, Debora Hirsch, Frederic Liver, Y Liver (David Liver & Rugiada Cadoni), Francesco Locatelli, Monica Mazzone, Giancarlo Norese, Steve Piccolo (The Lounge Lizards), Fabien Pinaroli, Luca Pozzi, Gak Sato, Franco Silvestro, Dagmara Stephan.
Rebirth era contributing artists: Nicola Cecchelli, Maurizio Nannucci, Tadao Ando, Francesco Bonami, Jota Castro, Francesco Dal Co, Barbara Fornasetti and Valeria Manzi, Carlos Garaicoa, Oxana Maleeva, Christoph Radl, Marc V. Kalinka. Iain Baxter&, Lorenzo Scotto Di Luzio, Lorenzo Bruni, Jimmie Durham, Kenneth Goldsmith, John Lurie, Sparrow, Ben.
Issues
First period 1992-1996
The magazine was published irregularly across two main periods: the first period from 1992 to 1996, and the reactivated period from 2012 to 2024.
First period, 1992–1996
Issue |
Year |
Title / format |
Contributors |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 0 |
1992 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Arte – Anno I n°0 |
Gabriele Di Matteo, Maurizio Elettrico, Piero Gatto, Vedova Mazzei, G. Pagliano, Franco Silvestro, Gatto Silvestro |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 1 |
1992 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno I N°1 |
Manlio Caropreso, Gabriele Di Matteo, Maurizio Elettrico, Piero Gatto, Eva Marisaldi, Vedova Mazzei, Luca Quartana, Franco Silvestro |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 2 |
1992 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno I N°2 |
Manlio Caropreso, Gabriele Di Matteo, Maurizio Elettrico, Piero Gatto, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 3 |
1996 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno V N°3 |
Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro. The third issue of the magazine, initially left unpublished, was later issued in 1996 as an insert in issue no. 10, a single one-sided photographic print by Vedova Mazzei. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 4 |
1993 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno II N°4 |
Luciano Bobba, Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Antonio Maniscalco, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro. The title of this issue is Ad Aperto Novecentonavantatre Si Scambiarono Per Se Stessi. The issue comprises 120 pages and presents a gallery of young artists exhibited in Aperto '93 at the Venice Biennale. The portraits are paired with names that do not correspond to the depicted individuals, creating a deliberate ambiguity regarding the identity of the artists represented. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 5 |
1994 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno III N°5 |
Maurizio Cattelan, Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Maurizio Elettrico, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro, Grazia Toderi. Issue no. 5 consists of 6 folded pages, printed in black and white, accompanied by a business card by Maurizio Cattelan, attached with a paperclip, printed in black and white on red card. The business card represents the classic Monopoly Get out of jail chance card. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 6 |
1994 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno III N°6 |
Emanuela De Cecco, Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Emilio Fantin, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro, Cesare Viel. The issue comprises 16 pages. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 7 |
1995 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno IV N°7 |
Tommaso Corvi Mora, Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro. The issue comprises 16 pages. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 8 |
1995 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno IV N°8 |
Art Club 2000, Gabriele Di Matteo, Mark Dion, E Il Topo, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro. The issue comprises 6 pages. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 9 |
1995 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno IV N°9 |
Stefano Arienti, Gabriele Di Matteo, E Il Topo, Amedeo Martegani, Vedova Mazzei, Franco Silvestro. Folded poster (by Stefano Arienti) with double-sided black-and-white printing, measuring 30 × 21 cm when folded and 60 × 84 cm when unfolded. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 10 |
1996 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno V N°9 |
Stefano Arienti, Art Club 2000, Massimo Bartolino, Vanessa Beecroft, Ivo Bonacorsi, Manlio Caropreso, Piero Cavellini, Tommaso Corvi Mora, Emanuela De Cecco, Gabriele Di Matteo, Mark Dion, Premiata Ditta, Maurizio Donzelli, Maurizio Elettrico, Emilio Fantin, Piero Gatto, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Luisa Lambri, Saverio Lucariello, Miltos Manetas, Eva Marisaldi, Amedeo Martegani, Vedova Mazzei, Liliana Moro, Alessandro Pessoli, Luca Quartana, Sergio Risaliti, Laura Ruggieri, Federico Tanzi Mira, Berth Theis, Grazia Toderi, Cesare Viel, Luca Vitone. The issue comprises 16 pages and the 3rd issue as special insert. |
Published by Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
Rebirth 2012-2023
Reactivated period, 2012–2024
Issue |
Year |
Title / format |
Contributors |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 11 |
2011 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XIX N.11 |
Nicola Cecchelli, Gabriele Di Matteo, Francesco Fossati, David Liver, Maurizio Nannucci, Franco Silvestro |
Folded black-and-white issue with two inserts, including Cherimus and Jésus Christ!. |
No. 12 |
2012 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XX N°12 |
Chiara Agnello, Art Club 2000, Mattia Barbieri, Valerio Borgonuovo, Gigiotto Del Vecchio, Gabriele Di Matteo, Francesco Fossati, Giovanna Francesconi, Gabriela Galati, Piero Gatto, Martin Giménez, Antonio Grulli, Debora Hirsch, Frederic Liver, Y Liver, Francesco Locatelli, Monica Mazzone, Giancarlo Norese, Steve Piccolo, Luca Pozzi, Gak Sato, Franco Silvestro |
Relaunch issue. It compiled portraits of artists and cultural figures who died between 1996 and 2012. 120p. Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 13 |
2013 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXI N°13 |
Frédéric Liver, David (Y) Liver. |
A poster folded in eight, printed double-sided in black and white, 29.7 × 21.3 cm (folded). Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 14 |
2013 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXI N°14 |
Tadao Ando, Francesco Bonami, Jota Castro, Francesco Dal Co, Gabriele Di Matteo, Barbara Fornasetti and Valeria Manzi, Carlos Garaico, Oxana Maleeva, Steve Piccolo, Christoph Radl, Marc V. Kalinka. |
The issue's title is Al Balcone, it comprises 84 pages and an App working as an audio guide for a visit in Venice. Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 15 |
2013 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXI N°15 |
Iain Baxter&. |
The editors state that the conjunction in the title is used to emphasize "involvement and inclusiveness." Both the artist and the publisher share an interest in the ampersand; the first page of the publication features Baxter& wearing a baseball cap marked with the symbol. The issue comprises 6 pages. Edizioni Nuovi Strumenti Piero Cavellini. |
No. 16 |
2014 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXII N°16 |
Guillaume Clermont. |
The manifesto of E IL TOPO was published in a street classified newspaper in Seoul, where its ten-point program appeared in Italian as a full-page black-and-white print among color commercial advertisements. Issue no. 16 records this intervention by presenting the manifesto in Korean alongside photographs of the city's street newspaper racks. EdiTorre del Greco, 2014. |
No. 17 |
2015 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIII N°17 |
E il Topo |
Comprising 112 pages. Éditions Incertain Sens / FRAC Bretagne / EdiTorre del Greco, 2015. The first exhibition of E il Topo at the CLA of Rennes (France) in March 2015, provided material for the production of issue no. 17. In addition to the exhibited works, visitors were invited to leave a thumbprint in a notebook as a record of their presence. These prints were subsequently scanned and reproduced in the pages of the issue. |
No. 18 |
2015 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIII N°18 |
E il Topo |
Limited edition of 100 metal boxes containing a silver-foiled mussle presented at Rob. Pruitt 's event at the venice Biennale. |
No. 19 |
2015 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIII N°19 |
Armando della Vittoria, David Liver, Frédéric Liver, Fabien Pinaroli |
Published on the occasion of E IL TOPO's exhibition Castelli di Sabbia at the Fondazione Costantino Nivola in Sardinia, this issue includes contributions by Sardinian artists responding to an open call initiated by the magazine under the title Nivola E IL TOPO. Submitted images were required to depict each artist alongside a sandcastle of their own making. The issue comprises 60 pages. Published by Keymouse and EdiTorre del Greco, 2015. |
No. 20 |
2015 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIV N°20 |
Claudiu Cobilanschi, Martin Larralde et Frédéric Liver |
The issue comprises 8 pages. EdiTorre del Greco, 2016. |
No. 21 |
2016 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIV N°20 |
Lorenzo Scotto Di Luzio et Lorenzo Bruni |
The issue features a photograph of mannequins across the central double-page spread. EdiTorre del Greco, 2016. |
No. 22 |
2016 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXIV N°22 |
||
No. 23 |
2017 |
E Il Topo: Periodico d'Artista Anno XXV N°23 |
David Liver |
Issue no. 23 took the form of a performative "living issue," presented during an art fair in Lucca in May 2017. During the event, artist David Liver remained lying on the floor of the booth, surrounded by copies of the magazine, while visitors were invited to ask about the content of the issue. The work functioned as an oral form of publication and is considered the twenty-third issue of the magazine. |
No. 24 |
2017 |
E Il ToRo : Periodico d'Artista Anno XXV N°24 |
Jimmie Durham |
Monographic work by American artist Jimmie Durham, comprising 42 pages with images and poetry. The magazine has been launched at the Thomas Dane Gallery, in Naples on the 26 of January 2019 with group performance by: Armando della Vittoria, Guillaume Clermont, Théo & Mario Coppola, Gatto Silvetro, David Liver, Frédéric Liver, Giancarlo Norese, Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato, Claudio Salerno, Gabi Scardi. EdiTorre del Greco, 2019. |
No. 25 |
2019 |
E Il Topo : Periodico d'Artista Anno XXVIII N°25 |
Kenneth Goldsmith, David Liver, Armando della Vittoria |
Entitled "Et La Trascription Brute" this issue is a folded poster presenting one text based work on each side. This release never got publicly launched due to the pandemic. Published by EdiTorre del Greco. |
Red Letter Edition
In 2012 alongside its traditional black on grey recycled paper format, E il Topo launched the Red Letter Edition which was printed in red. This new series loosely focused on artist writing projects rather than on pure visual art.
The first issue "Stories" features a collection of short stories written by Steve Piccolo and John Lurie, both former members of the experimental Downtown New York jazz band, The Lounge Lizards. The magazine was presented with a performance in New York City, at Printed Matter in 2012.
Another example is the 2016 fourth issue, featuring and distributing the U.S. presidential campaign program of American poet and candidate, Sparrow.
Manifesto
Performances
- 2012, Careof DOCVA, Milan. Rebirth.
- 2012, White Space Chelsea, New York City.
- 2014, Franz Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee (Belgium), M.A.R.T.I.N. (with Gabriele di Matteo, David Liver, Frédéric Liver, Steve Piccolo)
- 2014, Le générateur + galerie Nivet carzon, Paris. & it will be an E il Topo performance (with Iain Baxter&, Guillaume Clermont, Gabriele di Matteo, David Liver, Goeff Loewe, Fabien Pinaroli).
- 2016, Museo Madre, Napoli. Il manifesto rubato. (with Gabriele di Matteo, David Liver, Françoise Lonardoni, Gak Sato, Steve Piccolo, Dagmara Stephan).
Exhibitions
- 2012, La Monnaie, Paris. Rob Pruitt's Flea Market.
- 2013, CNEAI, Paris. E il Topo in Paris.
- 2014, Fiera del design, Milano. Street exhibition, Il Mostro E il Topo.
- 2014, Franz Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee (B).
- 2015, Museo Nivola, Orani (IT). Castelli di Sabbia & il Topo.
- 2023, Museo Madre, Napoli.
Books
- E IL TOPO, Un Manifesto Topista, Postmedia, Milano, 2016. ISBN 9788874901487
- E IL TOPO, Storia di una rivista d’artista con un’insolita strategia editoriale, Viaindustriae, Milano. ISBN 9791281232020
External links
- & IL TOPO, artist-run magazine since 1992, se met en mouvement, L'inter magazine, Number 119, Winter 2015.