Guglielmo Achille Cavellini (GAC)
In 1971 he coined the term “Self-historicization”, which had been preceded, in 1968, by the work “Che fare?”(“What Is to Be Done?”). In this work GAC had substituted himself for Lenin in the frontispiece of an Einaudi edition of the famous book, which at that time was one of the best sellers of the youth protest movement. The reasoning was simple, very direct and almost didactic. The aspiration of the artist is to enter history. In order to enter history it is necessary to obtain the recognition of the art world. To obtain this recognition, nowadays, it is necessary and sufficient to attract the attention of the mass media. If these mass media are controlled by an old system then there is nothing for it but to build others, to create new paths of communication.
