Nullus enim locus sine genio est, 1969
GPO-0185
Engraving on metal (varies according to the edition number)
22.5 x 28 cm
The production of three editions is attested to by the editions hitherto known of, and perhaps there are more. The editions differ in terms of the material used (copper, aluminum, brass).
| 1 | Edition in copper: Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella |
| 2 | Edition in aluminum: Present whereabouts unknown |
| 3 | Edition in brass: Private collection |
The work can be installed in two different ways – on the wall (as its nature as a "plaque" would require) or on a plinth. However, both require a location close to the entrance of an exhibition space (ideally, just outside the exhibition room), in the role of an announcement, a warning, a premise. In no case can the work be placed like a "painting" in a dominant position on a wall, nor can it be an "object" at the centre of a room.
Should the work be installed on a plinth, the work must be inside a case that is 15-20 cm in height and of a size that guarantees about 7 cm of space all around the plaque. The latter should be slightly staggered with respect to the sides of the container (preventing the sides of the plaque from being parallel to the ones of the case) and with a slight tilt (with the help of a small, stiff spacer), so that it is not completely flat on the bottom of the case.
The well-known Latin phrase (No place is without a genius) – taken from the comment by Servius to Book V of the Aeneid of Virgil (5, 95) – is etched on the surface of a metal sheet, identical in format to the plaques or signs that in Italy are present at the entrance to a building to indicate an office, a legal firm, a doctor's office, or the like (this explains the presence of the four holes in the corners, so that the plaque could be fastened to the wall). In the exhibition space, the work conceived to be placed at the entrance to a room serves as a premise or an announcement.
The work is part of a group of works made during the same year (GPO-0183, GPO-0184, GPO-0185, GPO-0187) characterized by enigmatic Latin quotations transcribed on banners, based on a paradox. As the artist explains, the Latin phrases "recited and divulged with the emphasis of a banner or a sign" actually refer "to an order of private contemplation". “The transcriptions are pronouncements, professions of faith, but also the awareness of their unrepeatability, confined as they are in an ancient language, distant from all possible verification or reappropriation”,1 Paolini remarks.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 183 p. 198.
Quotation from Servius, commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid, Book V (5, 95).
| 1971 | Rome, QUI arte contemporanea, Understatement. Fabro, Mochetti, Montealegre, Nagasawa, Paolini, Trotta, 27 January - 10 February, mentioned as exhibited, repr. n. 2; edition indicated as “3” in this entry. |
| 1977 | Genoa, Galleria Unimedia, Un cardine storico: il Concettuale, from 28 October; edition indicated as “3” in this entry. |
| 2012 | Weimar, Neues Museum, Arte Povera aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseums Liechtenstein, 28 August - 21 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 99, col. repr. p. 65, catalogue entry by M. Disch p. 64, edition indicated as “3” in this entry. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 183 p. 198. |
| • | “Qui incontri”, in Qui arte contemporanea 7 (Rome), December, 1971, repr. p. 7. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 185 p. 200, repr. |
| • | S. Smets, “Looking at Latin 1911–1965–2019”, in Jolcel 8 (Ghent), biannual online journal, 2023, p. 116, repr. p. 115. |
