In ascolto (stanza dello spettatore), 1998-99
GPO-0827
Listening (Spectator’s Room)
Gilt frames, pencil on wall
Variable number of frames 40 x 60 cm each, overall dimensions site-specific
Collection of the artist
The number of frames varies depending on the size of the exhibition space. From one installation to another, there can also be variations in the drawing and in the number of figures.
The gilded frames, which vary in number depending on the exhibition space, are lined up at regular intervals and in parallel rows on the walls of the room, so that they produce a “picture gallery”. On the walls, a pencil drawing recalls a room seen in perspective, enlivened by the life-size profile of several viewers, as if to reflect the same situation in which the viewer of the work or the visitor to the exhibition find themselves.
Author and viewer are the two polar ends between which Paolini’s oeuvre unfolds its “theatre”. They are the two complementary “identities” in which, from his earliest painting, the artist has identified himself: a silent author, who listens to the work, and assumes the semblances of the viewer.
| 1999 | London, Lisson Gallery, Giulio Paolini. Stanze, 16 April - 22 May. |
| 2001 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, 15 September 2001 - 6 January 2002, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 74, col. repr. pp. 68- 69, 71 (exhibition view London 1999, with detail), text by M. Disch pp. 68-71. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin: Hopefulmonster, 1999), p. 130; general commentary on Scena muta (stanza dell’autore), 1998-99 (GPO-0826) and In ascolto (stanza dello spettatore, 1998-99 (GPO-0827). |
| • | Meta.fisica: arte e filosofia da De Chirico all’Arte concettuale / Kunst und Philosophie von de Chirico bis zur Konzeptkunst, exhibition catalogue, Merano, Kunst Meran im Haus der Sparkasse / Merano arte edificio Cassa di Risparmio (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2003), col. repr. p. 31 (detail). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 827 pp. 850-851, col. repr. (exhibition view London 1999). |
