An emotional everyday thing: Roll of Corrugated Cardboard by Alighiero Boetti

Roll of Corrugated Cardboard by Alighiero Boetti is best understood as an emotional everyday ‘thing’. Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994) was an Italian conceptual artist and the work belongs to a series of sculptures that the artist made at the start of his career. A ‘thing’ is an idea that the English professor and critic Bill Brown put forward in his essay titled ‘Thing Theory’ published in 2001. To understand how Roll of Corrugated Cardboard is an emotional everyday ‘thing’, it’s important to first consider the work in detail and notice particular sensations that arise. The term ‘thing’ is useful for capturing the unknown nature of the work, including the use of craft, choice of material and abstract form. The choice and use of cardboard is central to achieving it’s ‘thingliness’ and is reflective of a particularly emotional and everyday approach to material that was part of the Arte Povera movement. The artwork’s context will be delved into as this solidifies it’s connection with the Arte Povera movement, which also sheds a light on why Italian artists used everyday materials in their work. ‘Thingliness’ has a psychological effect, which threatens the ability for it to be articulated in words and consequently means that it’s made sense of as it is experienced in person. The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s writing is helpful in understanding the impact of ‘thingliness’ on a personal level and how ‘thingliness’ shapes the reading of the work. Once the work is established as a ‘thing’, the rest of the essay will explore how the work creates a sense of the emotional everyday. The final part of the essay will look at two other artworks, ‘Untitled’ (2001) by Cy Twombly and Touch piece II (1982) by Phyllida Barlow, to explore how they convey a sense of ‘thingliness’ and the emotional everyday. Touching on their work is enlightening in articulating ‘thingliness’ in concrete terms and the meaning of it in the making of sculpture.