Art Beyond the Globe: Lucio Fontana’s Spatial Identity

In several works produced in the 1950s and 60s, the Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899 – 1968) proposed that the advent of space travel would lead to a profound decentring of human identity. In this article selected works by Fontana are discussed with reference to statements made by the artist and his contemporary critics as well as to more recent, theoretical writings on space and the body. It is argued that Fontana put forward in his work the idea that travel through outer space would render the image of the modern subject unrecognisable.