Hierapolis, 1993-94

The stainless steel wire inlay in a quadrilateral of white marble – at the centre of the entrance hall floor – reproduces, in a stylized manner, the shortened profiles of eight columns viewed from below recalling a temple in ruins. From a supraelevated point of view – the first floor of the tower building overlooks the hall at a triple height – the optical paradox of the dizzying image on the ground that represents a perspective oriented towards the sky is significantly reinforced.
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. The three works are linked by a close-knit common thread: while the overturning of "sky" and "Earth" associates Hierapolis and Caleidoscopio, the presupposition of the vision from above directly correlates Hierapolis with Meridiana.