Catalogue entry

Description

Three round plexiglas elements placed one on top of the other, and slightly staggered, bear the letters “Q”, “U”, and “I”, respectively, so as to form the word “Qui” [Here].
The word that becomes the image of itself asserts “here and now” its own linguistic meaning: wherever it is installed, it invests that specific spot in space with the meaning of the adverb of place that it represents. Deictic action, linguistic meaning, and spatial geometry also end up coinciding with the direct experience of the viewer: the linguistic "here" (qui) indicated by the work time after time identifies not just the spatial coordinates in which it is situated, but also the ones in which the viewer finds him or herself observing it.
Qui was reproduced in a larger version in 1985 (GPO-0547).

Exhibitions

1967	Turin, Teatro Stabile, Sala delle Colonne, Proposte 1. Giulio Paolini, 2 March, no catalogue.
1967	Venice, Galleria del Leone, Giulio Paolini, from 7 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr.
1968	Turin, Galleria Notizie, Giulio Paolini, 10 April - 2 May, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, repr.
1968 (?)	Rome, QUI arte contemporanea, Fabro, Kounellis, Paolini, from 24 April, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr. (the dates of this exhibition overlap with those of the previous exhibition in Turin!).
1970	Acireale, Palazzo Comunale, 18 m3 x 23 artisti. IV Rassegna d’Arte Contemporanea, 3-30 October, repr. n. pag.
1973	Milan, Studio Marconi, Paolini: opere 1961/73, from 15 November, not repr.
1992	Rivara, Castello di Rivara, Il gioco del pensiero, 4-31 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 30, not repr.

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini in 18 m3 x 23 artisti. IV Rassegna d’Arte Contemporanea, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Centro Di, 1970, n. pag.
•	G. Paolini, Note di lavoro, in the version published in Id., Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), p. 43, new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), p. 69.

Bibliography

•	G. Celant, “Arte Povera”, in Arte Povera, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Galleria de’ Foscherari, 1968, p. 6, not repr.; republished in Id., Arte Povera. Storie e protagonisti / Art Povera. Histories and protagonists (Milan: Electa, 1985), p. 54.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta Editore, 1969), repr. p. 146; idem in the English editions Art Povera (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969) and Arte Povera. Conceptual Actual or Impossible Art? (London: Studio Vista, 1969).
•	G. Brizio, “Giulio Paolini ovvero ‘quam raptim ad sublimia’”, in Graphicus 52, no. 10 (Turin), October, 1971, p. 37, repr. p. 38.
•	G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 56, 58, repr. no. 56 p. 57; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by Id. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 212; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019).
•	G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), repr. p. 26; new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), repr. p. 52.
•	Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 91.
•	I. Tomassoni, “Giulio Paolini”, in Flash Art 94-95 (Milan, Italian edition), January-February, 1980, pp. 6, 9, not repr.
•	Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, edited by G. Celant (Paris-Florence: Centre Georges Pompidou and Centro Di, 1981), repr. p. 331.
•	Il modo italiano, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1984, vol. 1, repr. p. 119.
•	Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, Palazzo Rosari Spada (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, 1984), repr. p. 13.
•	B. Corà, “Tutto qui (o la preesistenza dell’opera in Giulio Paolini)”, in Giulio Paolini. "Tutto qui", exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), pp. 16-17, repr. no. 9.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storie e protagonisti / Art Povera. Histories and protagonists (Milan: Electa, 1985), repr. p. 127; idem in the reprint included in G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011).
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 3, repr. p. 25.
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 68.
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), pp. 27-28, 40, repr. no. 74; republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), pp. 45, 65, not repr.
•	P. De Vecchi, E. Cerchiari, Arte nel tempo, vol. 3: Dall’illuminismo al postmoderno (Milan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri Bompiani, 1991), p. 632, repr. p. 633.
•	A. Zevi, “Three Artistic Generations in Contemporary Italy” in Three Artistic Generations in Contemporary Italy, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, 1993, p. 86, repr. p. 26.
•	R. Deidier, “La lingua della visione: Calvino e Giulio Paolini”, in Id., Le forme del tempo. Saggio su Italo Calvino (Milan: Guerini Studio, 1995), p. 152, repr. no. 5; republished in Id., Le forme del tempo. Miti, fiabe, immagini di Italo Calvino (Palermo: Sellerio editore, 2004), p. 130, repr. no. 5.
•	Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), repr. pp. 197 (exhibition view Venice 1967), 251.
•	M. Bandini, M.C. Mundici, M.T. Roberto, Luciano Pistoi: "inseguo un mio disegno" (Turin: Hopefulmonster editore, 2008), repr. p. 191 (reproduction of a page from the brochure of the solo exhibition at Galleria Notizie, Turin, 1968).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 117 p. 142, repr.
•	F. Fergonzi, “‘Trasparenza etimologica’. Per una rilettura di Una lettera sul tempo (1968) di Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Expositio, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2016), p. 33, repr. p. 25.
•	R. Cuomo, Giulio Paolini. Lo spazio, 1967. In collezione 4 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), pp. 14, 16, 18, repr. p. 16.
•	F. Tedeschi, Luoghi di transizione. Forme e immagini di “passaggio” fra arte e architettura (Brescia: Edizioni Morcelliana, 2020), p. 148, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 116 (exhibition view Venice 1967).

Qui, 1967