Caleidoscopio, 1993-94
GPO-0731
Kaleidoscope
Marble, stainless steel
Two columns h 350 cm each, two steel sheets 5 x 175 x 175 cm each, two stone bases 10 x 183 x 183 cm each, overall dimensions 355 x 533 x 183 cm
Shinjuku I-Land, Tokyo
Two identical marble columns, one right side up, the other upside down, are placed on two reflecting stainless steel sheets, delimited by a protective base. Each of the elements is thus reflected in the upside-down image of itself. The fact that the work is situated exterior to the building accentuates the perceptive ambiguity of the sky as it is “reversed” onto the reflecting surfaces.
The work was commissioned as part of the “Shinjuku I-Land Public Art Project”, promoted by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Tokyo Branch for an office building complex in Tokyo (Nishi Shinjuku 6-chrome East District Redevelopment Project). The project curated by Fumio Nanjo includes the permanent works of ten international artists, installed both inside and outside the building complex. Paolini’s four interventions, three of which are exterior (GPO-0731, GPO-0733, GPO-1143) and one interior (GPO-0732), are aligned along the central axis of the main building. Caleidoscopio is situated at the south-eastern end of the Shinjuku I-Land complex and serves as a “doorway” to the large open-air patio.
The work constitutes a marble replica of the plaster version made in 1976 (GPO-0323).
| • | Shinjuku I-Land Public Art Project, edited by F. Nanjo and Associates (Tokyo: Housing and Urban Development Corporation Tokyo Branch, 1995), pp. 39-42, col. repr. p. 41. |
| • | “State of the Public Art. Shinjuku I-Land Public Art Project”, in SD 27 (Tokyo), 1995, pp. 094-100, col. repr. p. 097. |
| • | A. Coulange, Giulio Paolini. Carnets de la commande publique (Paris: Éditions du Regard, 1997), p. 62, col. repr. p. 63. |
| • | R. Buono, “Giulio Paolini e Stefano Di Stasio, e altre ipotesi di lettura del ‘doppio’ nell’Arte Contemporanea”, in Il doppio, edited by R. Aragona (Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2006), p. 166, not repr. |
| • | A. Zevi, “Ospite o titolare?”, in Risonanze #2. Giulio Paolini & Fabio Vacchi, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Spazio Risonanze, Auditorium Parco della Musica (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2008), p. 52, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 731 p. 745, col. repr. |
