Search results for ""silvana""

The Thread and the River is a photographic story dedicated to the story of the Po river in Italy and the territories that the river crosses, consisting of about 50 shots taken by Paolo Simonazzi between 2013 and 2021. The protagonist is the slow and heavy flow of the river, which appears even when not photographed directly: its presence emerges in the surrounding landscape and in the people who live in the places crossed by its waters. Territories united as by a thread, part of a world perhaps in danger of extinction, and of which the author - in the wake of a photographic tradition that begins after the war - gives us visual traces, inviting us to listen to what Francesco Zanot calls the feeble song of a supra-territorial territory, attacked by political geography, clinging as it is to the shaky line of water for hundreds of kilometers. Text in English and Italian.

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“We need a new spatial contract. In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together.” - Hashim Sarkis The 17th International Architecture Exhibition, in Venice from 22 May to 21 November 2021, is titled How will we live together? As curator Hashim Sarkis explains, “the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021 is its title”: organised into five different scales, the exhibition presents the participants who will compete for the Golden Lion and also includes a series of research stations developed by researchers from universities around the world. Volume I of the catalogue is dedicated to the International Exhibition, curated by Hashim Sarkis, and begins with an essay setting out the themes of the show and presenting its protagonists. Architects and studios therefore illustrate their projects with images and texts. Volume II of the catalogue presents the National Participations, a Special Project in collaboration with Victoria and Albert Museum and the Collateral Events of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition; lavishly illustrated, it includes texts that explore the various projects on display. The graphic design of the Biennale Architettura 2021 coordinated image and the layout of the volumes are by Omnivore, Inc.

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The canyons and deserts of the vast natural landscapes of the American West (Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Death Valley, Canyonlands, Canyon de Chelly, etc.) and the coal-mining ghost towns of California and Wyoming. A town in Montana whose brick architecture is reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s paintings. Liquor stores, Idaho’s large auto cemeteries, the Bronx and the other industrial fringes of New York City. The sense of distance and the solitude of the wild frontier and the urban periphery alternate between dazzling daytime lights and mysterious nocturnes. This lush book presents 70 colour photographs imbued with clarity and nostalgia, accompanied by short poetic notes as travel counterpoints. A journey on the thread of personal memories which in turn echo literary and cinematographic works. An evocation in images and words of some American topoi, above all the timeless myth of “on the road” travelling. The afterword by Mauro Pala, professor of comparative literature, explores the ancient relationship that binds American literature to great landscape photography. Text in English and Italian.

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The book, with contributions from personalities from the world of design, art and of architecture, recounts some of the main works designed by ACPV ARCHITECTS - founded by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel in 2000 - through photographs by Carlo Valsecchi.Structured in two parts, the book retraces in the first half - through a series of 126 photographs by the artist Carlo Valsecchi, taken during 12 years of travel between Italy, Germany and Taiwan - the architectural artefacts of ACPV ARCHITECTS, in a process of continuous exchange between the built environment, the landscape and the complexity of the city; the second part of the book is a collection of project histories, from their conception, to their evolution, to their completion, in a kind of logbook' in which the voices of the ACPV ARCHITECTS' designers themselves tell the story.The book is enriched by contributions from the art critic Francesco Bonami, the former director of the Design Museum in London Deyan Sud

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“For fifty years I’ve been practicing different kinds of writing: scripture: a theoretical one for essays, one for the production of books and catalogues, and one focused on the exhibitions. The story of (my) exhibitions aims to draw attention to this last kind of writing”. - Germano Celant This book, which Germano Celant (Genoa, 1940 - Milan, 2020) had been working on for years, is published posthumously and represents the professional and spiritual testament of this well known and internationally respected curator. It tells the story of the exhibitions that characterised Celant’s work presenting, in chronological order, a selection of 34 exhibitions: from Arte povera - Im-spazio, Genoa, 1967, to Post Zang Tumb Tuuum: Art Life Politics - Italia 1918-1943, Milan, 2018, passing through Identité italienne - L’art en Italie depuis 1959, Paris, 1981; Futuro Presente Passato, 47 - Venice International Art Exhibition, 1997; When Attitudes Become Form - Bern 1969/Venice, 2013; and Arts & Foods. Rituals since 1851 - Milan, 2015. The books retraces the exhibitions through over 400 pictures of the actual displays and the critical texts that were published in the respective catalogues. Thus emerges the evolution in Celant’s curatorial practice, from personal interpretation to his focus on historical documents, with an eye always turned towards non-traditional media (book, record, photography) and towards the encroachments between different languages (art, architecture, design). Text in English and Italian.

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This book reveals the work of the artist and activist Yto Barrada. Her artistic practice draws upon the roles of activist, educator, architect, botanist and anthropologist to explore expressions of communality and individual being. The exhibition presented at Mathaf focuses on the threads of regeneration and growth moving between architecture, urban transformation, horticulture, experimental education and home economics. Weaving together these interdisciplinary methods of making and discovery, the exhibition articulates desires for equality, self-expression and exploration. The artist’s personal and collective experiences of Tangier are expressed through a multitude of mediums to investigate the structures and systems of life in that city. These work in parallel with similar investigations by the artist into systems in the US, to compose a critical and poetic reading of overlooked histories and realities. Barrada’s works in this exhibition offer an open dialogue on the possible restitution of basic democratic ideals such as shelter, sustenance and communality. Barrada’s work offers a mode of associative thinking and making, emphasising the right to exist, learn and shape the world around us. In the galleries, her works live together, presenting starting points for possible collective narratives, which recirculate within the spaces as a composition and as new stories in themselves. Text in English and Arabic.

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The Griffoni Polyptych is regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Published for the exceptional reunification - after 300 years - of its constituent parts, this book offers the results of a new analysis carried out for this important occasion. Commissioned by Floriano Griffoni for the family chapel in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, the polyptych was painted by Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de 'Roberti between 1470 and 1472. The Ferrarese artists created a fundamental work in the search for a modern feeling of space and volumes, proposing a 'compositional mosaic' which can be considered an alternative to the contemporary works of Piero della Francesca or Andrea Mantegna. Dismantled in 1725 by the new owner of the chapel, the polyptych was never again reunited: the paintings that formed it entered the antiques markets and 16 pieces arrived in the nine museums that still preserve them today. This volume is the most complete monograph on this masterpiece.

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The complex and refined creative imagination of Carlo Mollino - an eclectic personality of the Italian 20th century - is the common thread that unites the research documented in these pages, which combines a selection of photographs from the fifties and sixties, shot by Mollino himself, with the works of Enoc Perez and Brigitte Schindler, artists united by a visionary spirit aimed at experimentation. The volume opens with the shots of the splendid and provocative models portrayed by Mollino (Turin, 1905-1973), through which the author on the one hand explores the beauty of female nature and on the other aims to compose an image – subjective and transfigured – of the woman as the ideal counterpart of his existence. Enoc Perez (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1967) began a personal investigation in the nineties on a series of iconic twentieth-century architectures, which he transposed into paintings with an indefinite, sometimes dreamlike flavour: among these stands out Casa Mollino – the architect’s last enigmatic and secret residence, which now houses the Museum – visited by the painter in 2019 and the subject of the works presented here. The same house, designed by Mollino down to the smallest detail and conceived as a mirror of his worldview, was a source of inspiration for Brigitte Schindler (Munich, 1972), whose photographs intercept the mystery suspended in the rooms, the subtle connections between the objects carefully chosen and positioned by the owner. The volume includes contributions by Mario Diacono, Fulvio Ferrari, Enoc Perez and Brigitte Schindler, together with extracts from “The message from the dark room” by Carlo Mollino. Text in English and Italian.

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This volume, edited by Alberto Fiz, explores private collecting through a rich selection of over 150 works from 18 of Italy's most important contemporary art collections. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and videos show the figure of the collector not merely as a simple purchaser of works, but as the creator of a world, a project that grows in line with his or her personal sensitivity. In opening their doors to these private collections, the third millennium's patrons take on a leading role in today's cultural landscape, offering a unique opportunity to promote otherwise unknown masterpieces. Ranging from Piero Manzoni to Tomás Saraceno, from Marina Abramovic to Maurizio Cattelan, this volume provides a collective picture, a 'collection of collections', linked with our modern-day passions and tastes.

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This book about Cesare Colombo (Milan, 1935-2016) is an essential reference for 20th century Italian photography. Animated by a strong civil sense, Colombo was also an historian, critic, curator of important exhibitions since the post-war period, and promoted debates which have contributed to a significant growth of photographic culture in Italy. Alongside his advertising and industrial activities, he collaborated with the Agfa Advertising Service, the 3M Foundation, the Archive of the Italian Touring Club, the Alinari Archives, together with a constant presence in prestigious photography magazines. This volume brings together 250 images that testify to the variety of interests and themes of his research: a nucleus is dedicated to his city, Milan, narrated in 60 years of urban, cultural and social transformations; included here are also photographs of political subjects, those dedicated to work, trade and finally art and culture. Text in English and Italian.

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In the ambitious dream of a futurist reconstruction of the universe pursued by the movement founded by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, which ranged from the arts to the most diverse aspects of life, the renewal of postal communication methods also found its place, with proposals that covered the entire sector, from postcards to letterheads and envelopes, from stamps to interpersonal correspondence. Futurism, in fact, has not limited itself to using the post office network to spread its ideas in every part of the world, but also created a new postal style, conceiving many solutions of modern graphics and even post-postal correspondence via computer and cell phone, made up of synthesis, laconicity, conventional symbolism and abbreviations. The book explores this little-known chapter of Futurism through the material of the Echaurren Salaris Collection, the richest in the world with regard to magazines, posters, books and futurist documents, as well as an indispensable reference for the knowledge of this movement. Text in English and Italian.

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Francesco Bosso (born in Italy, 1959) is a well known Italian interpreter of landscapes and primitive nature via the medium of black and white photography. Bosso's extraordinary mastery of the technique of shooting outdoors in a large format, and his virtuosity in the darkroom, using the traditional analogue process, allows him to obtain wonderful prints on gelatine silver paper, which intensifies the cleanliness of the whites and the depth of the tonal values and contrasts. Text in English and Italian.

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Water belongs to our most profound dreams: it evokes motherhood, cleanliness, purity, sensuality, and death. Naturally, this is true for every civilisation, but in Islam this series of ideas found its most profound meaning, turning water into one of the cornerstones of human existence: a cornerstone that is both spiritual as well as social and aesthetic. Statements in the Koran and subsequent literature illustrate the historic development of the many roles and meanings of water and the incarnation of its significance in Islamic art and craftsmanship. This volume tells a story through images, artefacts, books, and miniatures: technology, everyday life, and art, which for centuries mirrored one another in the many ways of enjoying and using water.

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Frédéric Borel graduated from the Special School of Architecture in 1982, and afterwards became laureate of the PAN XIII, of Albums de la jeune architecture and the villa Medici horsles-murs. Established in Paris since 1985, Frédéric Borel has developed a new approach to the urban question, through some emblematic buildings of a new architectural expressiveness. Text in English and French.

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What Remains is the photographic research undertaken by Alberto Gandolfo in January 2017, which takes its cue from news stories from the most recent Italian past, focusing on family members and people close to the victims of tragic episodes, engaged in long battles in pursuit of the truth. We know the news stories, we remember how the faces of the tragically disappeared people were, but we know little or nothing about those who remain, about those people whom, in addition to experiencing great pain resulting from the loss of a loved one, inherit battles and take charge in seeking justice. Making their faces visible is the means to maintain high attention on the evolution of specific and very particular events, bearers of anonymous and silent revolutions, in which we are all necessarily involved. Text in English, French and Italian.

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Now in its sixth edition, the prestigious Swiss Architectural Award, aimed at young architects reported by internationally renowned consultants, was awarded this year to the Spanish architect Elisa Valero. The catalogue of the award, which accompanied an exhibition at the Theater of Architecture in Mendrisio (16 November-23 December 2018), collects the works of all the architects who participated in the competition, focusing in particular on those of the winner. Text in English and Italian.

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Drawing - as paper-based work, in whatever technique - is the load-bearing skeleton for much experimentation, a preferred artistic medium for painters and sculptors and, often, the first visualisation of an idea. Drawing acquires its vital force from daily artistic practice; it is not cancelled or corrected because it captures the first formalisation of a creative thought that may not be intended to be shared with the public: its first (and sometimes only) spectator is the artist himself. This book is the outcome of a project of acquisitions conducted over a period of many years which has led to the creation of Pino Rabolini's Collezione Ramo, comprising some 600 drawings by Italian artists spanning a period stretching from the early years of the twentieth century to the 1990s, before art became contemporary. On this occasion approximately one hundred works are presented, illustrating the quality and importance of this artistic medium, and placing Italian production at the cutting edge on the international stage.

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Irony and self-reflectivity are central to Mounira Al Sohl's work, which explores feminist issues, tracks patterns of microhistory, also being socially engaged, political and escapist all at once. In a series of drawings, Al Solh collects personal histories and experiences that merge from humanitarian and political crises in Syria and the Middle East. The more than 150 drawings and embroideries presented here document deeply personal encounters and conversations between Al Solh and Syrian refugees as well as other refugees from the Middle East. Text in English and Arabic..

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The collected works of photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin, arranged as an illustrated chronology of the main historical events from the last thirty years. Each copy is numbered. This volume presents a survey of the collected works of Paolo Pellegrin (1964), one of the most important photographers on the international scene. It was edited by Germano Celant and is the result of extensive work on the photographer's archive. The publication is a collection of over a thousand images, sequenced chronologically by decade so as to retrace Pellegrin's creative and documentary journey.

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Established by the Association for the International Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF) and organised in partnership with the Centre Pompidou, this is one of the most prestigious contemporary art prizes in the world. This year's edition offers an insight into the art scene in France, with the opportunity to discover the unique creations of Mohamed Bourouissa, Clément Cogitore, Thu-Van Tran and Marie Voignier. The exhibition is a reflection of common concerns: rewriting the narrative in the midst of media saturation and applying new conditions to memory experiences. Text in English and French.

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With Salvatore Cuschera we see the recreation of the blacksmith's technical skill and manual expertise. Each blow of the blacksmith's hammer transfers to the glowing hot iron the force that breaks through all reference to nature and asserts the idea of sculpture as integration of music, architecture and poetry, in a single harmonious context. It does not limit the spirit but begins with the very soul of the material, the most noble and the most neglected. Text in English and Italian.

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This book introduces the work of Piero De Martini (1939), one of the key figures in Italian design during the last 30 years of the 20th century. This book explores De Martini's methods, based on the close dialogue between designers, artisans and art directors during the prototype development phase. De Martini's notable career includes partnerships with legendary producers such as Cassina, for whom he designed the 'La Barca' (1975) collection of domestic furniture, which - according to Patricia Urquiola - still represents a futuristic approach to furniture design. Text in English and Italian.

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Dark room. The frame of a boat hangs, suspended. A cascade of light fibres flows downwards and the wires are arranged on the ground, like the tentacles of a motionless Medusa, beyond time's limits. Among the protagonists of the international art scene, Adrian Paci uses a straight-forward language - lacking rhetoric to investigate the human condition with refined formal synthesis. In his works, migration, which he experienced in the first person, is sublimated into universal research on the indefinite nature of the human being, and on the complexity of social, political and cultural dynamics intrinsic to contemporary life. The project Di queste luci si serviraÌ la notte (Lights to Serve the Night) underlines his ability to narrate our times and describe the perpetual transit of man, assimilated to the continuous flow of water and its cathartic power.

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Cybèle Varela (b. 1943) is one of the key figures of Tropicalismo and Brazilian Pop Art. The texts and interview included in this catalogue shed new light on Cybèle Varela's contribution to Latin American and international artistic discourses, including Pop Art, Narrative Figuration and Video Art. Questions of identity, social and political issues and transnational experiences are central to Varela's multifaceted production, from the 1960s to the present day. Text in English, German and Portuguese.

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This book aims to show how Picasso returned to a Barcelona in 1917 after many years in Paris, where he encountered a rich cultural scene, a city unlike the one he had left. This book intends to examine the nature of Picasso's relationships with the local artists on his return to Barcelona, the tourist outings he went on, the things he did in his spare time, and his artistic output during this period, which was particularly prolific. In this interlude in Barcelona, far from the oppressive climate in Paris, a city then at war, and from his Cubist circles, Picasso was able to work freely, searching for new forms of expression. This was a moment of stylistic transition in Picasso's uvre that would continue in the years immediately afterwards, when classical sources alternated totally freely with the achievements of Cubism.

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Giacomelli''s landscape is both real and invented, just as his eye is both visionary and visual. It is a pretext to represent another situation. His landscapes are ''written landscapes'' in which the horizon is almost completely eliminated: a fusion of time and non-time. In his landscapes, the relationship between countryside and memory, between Giacomelli and a denied and accepted mother earth, is more dramatic, resulting in a dry and great representation. He captured the marks, material and furrows of the earth and in them he found parallels with human bodies, since the earth, in his poetics, is the flesh of man. Text in English and Italian.

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The Monochrome of the Sala delle Asse is a portion of wall decoration left at the drawing stage and represents the roots of one of the sixteen mulberry trees that, regularly spaced on the walls of the room, intertwine above to create a polychrome arboreal pavilion on the vault. The Monochrome of the Sala delle Asse is a portion of wall decoration left at the drawing stage and represents the roots of one of the sixteen mulberry trees that, regularly spaced on the walls of the room, intertwine above to create a polychrome arboreal pavilion on the vault. The decoration of the room, which was never completed, is historically tied to the name of Leonardo da Vinci by a letter written in April 1498 by Gualtiero da Bascapé, the secretary of Ludovico il Moro, to the duke of Milan, explaining that Lunedì si desarmarà la camera grande da le Asse c[i]oè da la tore. Magistro Leonardo promete finirla per tuto Septembre. The room was subjected to radically changing fortunes over the centuries, and was later the object of two complex restoration campaigns, the first carried out between 1893 and 1902 by Luca Beltrami and the second between 1955 and 1956 by Costantino Baroni. This volume provides an account of the result of these restorations. It describes the complex diagnostic research and the technical assessments that form the foundations of a broader project for the conservation of the painted area. Text in English and Italian.

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The book documents the formal research of Italo-Persian artist Bizhan Bassiri, who in 1986 wrote the Manifesto of Magmatic Thought. Here he refers to the work of art as the effect of an intuition that arrives within from without but after acquiring substance and form is manifested externally again, in the hope that, ideally, it will last forever. The word 'Noor' clearly refers to the natural light which will put the sculpture Specchio Solare in touch with the space surrounding it, freeing it from its basic function as a reflecting surface to turn it into a place where light becomes shape. Text in English, Italian and Persian.

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The book focuses on a heritage of works of rare beauty, which offers an exhaustive overview of Déco taste, told mainly through ceramics, but also through graphics, glass and metals. The works presented - Italian, but also European and American, dating from the end of the First World War to 1929 - are the expression of well-known artists who marked the history of Italian ceramics at the beginning of the century, and are of absolute international importance. Domenico Rambelli, Francesco Nonni, Pietro Melandri, Riccardo Gatti, Giovanni Guerrini, to mention some of the best-known names. Text in English and Italian.

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Mahmoud Obaidi's work encompasses sculpture, conceptual objects, film and painting; a series of politically-charged fragments which are brought together within this publication. Born in Iraq in 1966, Mahmoud Obaidi's artistic career is marked by transition, conflict, fragmentation and exile. Encompassing sculpture, conceptual objects, film and painting, his work is a series of politically-charged fragments which are herewith brought together within this publication and exhibition. This book captures the multiple elements that constitute Obaidi's work. In addition to literature, film, music and installation, he has also embarked on architectural projects, such as the Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha where he produced drawings and worked with civil engineers to design this structure. War, terrorism, pollution and ecology are just some of the topics that are filtered through his work. The central display structure of the exhibition - the rope - evokes Duchamp's Twine (1942), which is here re-purposed into the precarious connecting device that holds each element together. As is always present within Obaidi's work, however, connection and unity has the potential to be broken through war and its capacity to segregate and isolate. The taut rope holding everything together is quickly broken with the cut of a knife.

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Jessica Lange was granted a scholarship from the University of Minnesota to study photography in 1967, but the vicissitudes of student life led her to Spain and Paris where she chose to put dramatic arts before practical photography. Having left photography behind, Jessica Lange embarked on her acting career, playing leading parts in iconic movies and winning two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in Tootsie, in 1983, and Blue Sky, in 1995. Not until later, at the beginning of the nineties, did Jessica Lange take up her photographic exploits again. Her images are captured on her travels and wanderings - her lens has roamed through countries such as the USA, France, Finland and Italy, although she has a particular soft spot for Mexico, as she herself puts it, "for its lights and wonderful nights". The accompanying catalogue for the exhibition, bringing together the collection of 80 photographs taken over the last 20 years, is arranged into two series: 'Things I see' and 'Mexico, On Scene' and represents a journey through Jessica Lange's diary of impressions.

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This volume accompanies the exhibition Belle Haleine by German artist Georg Baselitz (1938) - a leading figure in the world of contemporary art - hosted in the splendid setting of the Galleria degli Antichi in Sabbioneta (Mantua), the Ideal City founded by Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna.Among the works presented - chosen from among the most significant in his artistic career - are imposing sculptures, large paintings on canvas, and the ten provocative engravings collectively entitled Belle Haleine in homage to Marcel Duchamp, an artist to whom Baselitz - provocatively - often refers in his work, and first exhibited in 1963.The volume offers a broad view of the multifaceted nature of the pioneer of neo-expressionist art, whose hallmark is to reproduce figures upside down.Text in English and Italian.

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Beirut and the Golden Sixties revisits a turbulent chapter in the development of modernism in Beirut beginning with the 1958 Lebanon crisis and ending with the 1975 outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. Through 230 works by 34 artists and more than 300 archival documents, the exhibition examines this romanticised era of global influence in Beirut to highlight how collisions between art, culture and polarised political ideologies turned the Beirut art scene into a microcosm for larger trans-regional tensions. As a city that is arguably in and of itself a manifesto of fragility, Beirut continues to evoke both vulnerability and determination – or at least traces of it – and conjure forms of resistance, called forth by the urgency of the moment and the desire to be remembered. Artists: Shafic Abboud, Yvette Achkar, Etel Adnan, Farid Aouad, Dia al-Azzawi, Alfred Basbous, Joseph Basbous, Michel Basbous, Assadour Bezdikian, Huguette Caland, Rafic Charaf, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Georges Doche, Simone Fattal, Laure Ghorayeb, Paul Guiragossian, Farid Haddad, John Hadidian, Jumana Bayazid El-Hussein, Dorothy Salhab Kazemi, Helen El-Khal, Jean Khalifé, Simone Baltaxé Martayan, Ibrahim Marzouk, Jamil Molaeb, Fateh al-Moudarres, Nicolas A. Moufarrege, Mehdi Moutashar, Aref El Rayess, Mahmoud Said, Adel al-Saghir, Hashim Samarchi, Nadia Saikali, Mona Saudi, Juliana Seraphim, Cici Sursock, Khalil Zgaib, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige

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"Robert Doisneau is commonly regarded as one of the pioneers of French street photography, so if you want a masterclass in the genre, this is the book for you."—Live Preston & Fylde Robert Doisneau (Gentilly, 1912 - Montrouge, 1994) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of French humanist photography and street photojournalism. Through his lens he was able to grasp the daily life of the men and women who populate Paris and its suburbs, presenting the city and its inhabitants with an ironic and light touch, but also with deep humanity and participation. The volume collects 130 black and white silver salt prints from the Atelier Robert Doisneau in Montrouge, which houses his photographic archive. Whether they are photographs made on commission or the result of his wanderings in Paris, the artist’s personal style is outlined through these shots, which mixes charm and imagination, but also a freedom of expression not far from surrealism. These pictures capture moments of daily happiness among ordinary people – such as the famous Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville, or “The kiss” – in which tenderness, sometimes veiled with melancholy, but also ever-present notes of humour are mixed. Text in English, Italian, and French. Published to accompany an exhibition at Rovigo, Palazzo Roverella 23 September 2021- 30 January 2022

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The greatest designer of French lighting, Robert Mathieu, is still little known to the general public today due to the rarity of his pieces on the market, highly sought after by specialised collectors. Unlike a traditional designer, Robert Mathieu not only designed his lights, but he made them, like an artist, in his studio on rue de Charenton in Paris. Here there is no publisher, but a dropper production close to that of a work of art, sometimes less than eight copies. What is remarkable about Robert Mathieu is on the one hand his unique creativity in France, because he has designed more than 200 models, but also the very high quality of execution of his pieces which are still in perfect condition today. This unpublished monographic work is born after 10 years of preparation. Between the beautiful art book and the catalogue raisonné, it presents all the known models of this lighting artist, illustrated by studio photographs and period documentation or non-professional photographic testimonials, because a large number of the creations by Robert Mathieu have never been seen before. Text in English and French.

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Photographer of excellence, and among the most appreciated in the contemporary art scene, the Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf (1959) is to be considered one of the greatest interpreters of modern portrait photography: he is known all over the world for a photographic style dominated by mysterious and contemplative atmospheres, for his mise en scène and theatrical compositions. In his shots Olaf weaves complex and dramatic narratives. His works are striking in their strangeness, their will to provoke, their sense of solitude and restlessness: they catch glimpses of truth, which reveal the imperfection and the fictitious nature of an apparently perfect world. This rich catalogue represents a journey through the artist's entire production, offering a complete overview of his work: from the beginning with Chessmen, the series that made him internationally famous, awarded at the Young European Photographer competition in 1988, up to the recent Palm Springs project (2018). The volume includes a critical text by Walter Guadagnini and a conversation with the artist. Text in English and Italian.

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The five essays selected for this book offer different approaches to the problem of narratives of contemporary art, based on observation of the central significance of contextual and situational realities and anthropological concreteness of microconstellations. The singularity of each concrete situation, the authenticity of the specific, contextual meanings intensify the empathic perception of intimacy, fragility, micro-history. The powerful, poetic effectiveness of the concreteness of singular, situational and contextual realities suffuses authentic narration. This enhances sensitivity to concrete diversities, to anthropological multiplicity and to singularity of lived realities. Contemporary narratives are shaped by imminent relevance of specific contextual or situational meanings. The 'concreteness of concrete selves in their immediate societies' described by Arthur C. Danto becomes the core of the narration of our era's artists. Their voices are imbued with empathy, sensitivity, openness, tolerance and authenticity, making them poetically effective, even cathartic.

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Architect, designer, writer, skier, racing driver and stunt pilot, Carlo Mollino placed photography in a wholly privileged role in the pantheon of his languages and interests. Carlo Mollino used photography at a means of expression, producing works that were both classical and experimental, and as a fundamental instrument for the documentation of his work and his daily life. From a theoretical point of view, he provided an important impulse to the historic and aesthetic study of this means, contributing to its transition into the system of art. With over 450 illustrations, this book fully investigates the relationship between Mollino and photography, from his first architectural shots to the Polaroids of his later years, placing him within the history of the discipline. Text in English and Italian.

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This volume travels through the most important moments and crossroads in the lifetime and career of Christian Boltanski, which have led him into reflecting upon the outcome of some historical events during the twentieth century and on the need to reconsider appropriate representation methods. History, histories and the statute of the image are the fulcrum of the conversation being proposed. In particular, this conversation deals with some fundamental themes: the difference between collective memory, recollection and oblivion; relations between the individual and the crowd; the entity of absence, intended as proof of a destroyed presence, but also as device for the reactivation of memory; the incidence of an isolated glance, that of the observer, upon whose primacy the history of western art has constructed its foundations.

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Opera, for its inherent multimedia nature (text, music, scenography, ballet, representation), lends itself to interdisciplinary, including those that touch upon legal topics. The stories told in the great masterpieces of European opera are, frequently, based on facts relevant for criminal law. Murders, abductions, extortions, kidnappings, massacres, and other types of crimes have filled the stories of opera since its origin. In much of musical theatre, including the masterpieces by Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Wagner, and many others,there are, also issues addressed that touch upon the less obvious areas of private law: librettos often talk about contracts, donations, wills, weddings, family relationships, debts and money issues in general. In Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Nemorino - in love with the beautiful but indifferent Adina - is the victim of a real contract scam perpetrated by Dulcamara. In La sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini, Elvino snatches the engagement ring given to Amina thinking she was unfaithful: he revokes a donation made in view of marriage, and maybe breaks a rule of law. In Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold, one witnesses a sensational case of breach of contract, to be read in the light of the emergence, in the nineteenth century, of a new sensibility for market economy and the increasingly central value of contracts in social relations. In Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, there is a strange marriage vow, executed in order to guarantee the repayment of a debt.

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Pieter Brugel the Elder - Fall of the Rebel Angels argues that many of the hybrid falling angels are carefully composed of naturalia and artificialia, as they were collected in art and curiosity cabinets of the time. Bruegel's much noted emulation of Jheronymus Bosch was thus only part of his wider interest in collecting, inspecting, and imitating the artistic and natural world around him. This prompts an examination of the world at the time that Bruegel painted the Fall of the Rebel Angels, locally, in the urban and courtly centres of Antwerp and Brussels on the eve of the Dutch revolt, and globally, as the discovery of the New World irreversibly transformed the European perception of art and nature. Painted as a tale of hubris and pride, Bruegel's masterpiece becomes a meditation on the potential and danger of man's pursuit of art, knowledge and politics, a universal theme that has lost nothing of its power today.

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The volume is dedicated to Shepard Fairey (Charleston, 1970), one of the best known urban art artists in the world. Established under the pseudonym of OBEY thanks to a successful campaign of stickers spread in a viral way, depicting the face of wrestling champion André The Giant, the American artist has achieved international visibility thanks to the portrait of Obama, immortalised in the iconic 2008 ‘Hope’ poster for his presidential campaign. In these pages the artist presents 30 recent unpublished graphic works (2019), which retrace 30 years of activity through his most famous icons: many social and political themes that inspired his production, from the struggle for peace and against racial violence, the defense of human and gender dignity up to environment protection. The graphics constitute a unique and unrepeatable concept, designed specifically for the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, where they are put in dialogue with important works from the contemporary art collection of the Capitoline Superintendence, selected by the artist himself. The volume, with an intervention by Shepard Fairey and numerous critical texts, is completed by a biography and bibliographical apparatus. Text in English and Italian.

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The volume brings together for the first time the photographs taken by Olivo Barbieri (Carpi, Modena, 1954) in the early eighties. In these shots, full of mystery and everyday life, can be found all the elements that in the following decades the Emilian master would have developed: the artificial lighting in contemporary cities, views from above, home interiors and bars, the signs left by man in the landscape. In consonance with the spirit of research that characterised the season of Italian photography between the late seventies and the early eighties, Barbieri scoured with a sharp and meticulous gaze the hidden corners of the province – authentic places of the indefinite – with the intent to investigate the theme of visual perception and its representation. His images scratch the surface of a banal only apparently so and, in a state of expectation and disorientation, open up a new way of looking at space, instilling a doubt in the observer: do we actually see reality? The volume includes a critical text by Corrado Benigni and a conversation with the artist. Text in English and Italian.

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The Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge owns a unique collection of posters from around the world. From the beginning of its history, the Humanitarian Movement uses this support to spread its messages and values. For the presentation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the recruitment of volunteers, the request for donations, the call for blood donation, the promotion of hygiene rules, the prevention of diseases or disasters, the dangers of mines or the teaching of first aid, posters challenge the public, inform and try to rally to the humanitarian cause. More than a means of communication, they are also witnesses of an era capturing the events that are shaking the world and the concerns of the regions in which they appear. Mirrors of society, the posters carry with them the history of the Movement, its actions, its necessity and, even more, its universality.

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One of the most prestigious contemporary art awards, the Marcel Duchamp Prize was created in 2000 by the ADIAF, Association for the international diffusion of French art which groups together 400 contemporary art collectors rallied around the French scene. Its ambition is to bring together the most innovative artists and help them raise their international profile. Each year, the Marcel Duchamp Prize is awarded to one of four artists, either French or living in France, all of them working in the field of the plastic and visual arts. Since the outset, this collectors' prize benefits from a close partnership with the Centre Pompidou who invites the four nominated artists for a 3-month group show in its Galerie 4. The winner is chosen by an international jury of collectors and directors of leading institutions. Text in English and French.

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The illustrated stories published in the Christmas issues of the youth magazines have left lasting memories with Finnish children. Translated in French for the first time, these charming stories take us into landscapes of forests and lakes, squirrels and tits, leprechauns and trolls - more facetious than worrisome. Text in French.

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Functional Jewellery is a valuable tool for understanding the complexity and beauty of jewellery, even in ordinary, everyday gestures, like pinning the edges of a cape, buttoning a coat, styling hair or protecting nail varnish.

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Since easel painting began, the figure of Eve has been found in the work of painters from Masaccio to Rubens. The catalogue presents nearly 70 works from Symbolists, Nabis, Fauvists, Cubists and Surrealists.

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