Novero (The Art Institute of Chicago, The Hirshhorn Museum, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Fort Worth Art Museum, 1977-78), 1977

The work made for the group exhibition "Europe in the Seventies: Aspects of Recent Art", which toured American museums from 1977 to 1979 consists of twelve sheets each of which containing twelve rectangles, marked in red ink with the titles of the exhibitions presented in the participating museums during the period of the exhibition.1 On each sheet, the series of rectangles registers an empty space in the area corresponding to the title of the exhibition which marks the sheet at the bottom left.
"Akin to the version of Novero previously presented in Rome [GPO-0352], the name of each artist was ascertained by the names of the other artists involved in the event; hence, in this case as well, an exhibition is mentioned as the pure combinatory element of a particular context delimited by a precise period of time".2
The same theme can be found in four other variants, three of which were made in the same year (GPO-0352, GPO-0353, GPO-0368) while one is dated 1979 (GPO-0405).

1 The exhibition of the work was originally planned for the four venues listed in the subtitle of the work: what happened instead was that the presentation in Fort Worth was cancelled and replaced by a last stop at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. The exhibitions mentioned, starting from the first title recorded in the first element, are as follows: "The Permanent Collection", The Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, 21.8 - 2.10.1977; "Robert Rauschenberg", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 3.12.1977 - 15.1.1978; "Kenneth Noland: A Retrospective", The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, 1.10 - 27.11.1977; "America 1976", The Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, 19.6 - 14.8.1977, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 10.9 - 6.11.1977; "European Portraits 1600-1900 in the Art Institute of Chicago", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 8.7 - 11.9.1978; "The Record as Artwork: From Futurism to Conceptual Art", The Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, 4.12.1977 - 15.1.1978; "Europe in the Seventies: Aspects of Recent Art", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 8.10.1977 - 1.1.1978, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, 16.3 - 7.5.1978, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 23.6 - 6.8.1978, The Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, 24.9 - 29.10.1978; "Chronicle News Photography", The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2.12.1977 - 22.1.1978; "Stella Since 1970", The Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, 19.3 - 30.4.1978; "Carl Andre", The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 9.12.1978 - 14.1.1979; "Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects", The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, 27.10.1977 - 2.1.1978; "Julia E. Hoffman: A Family Album", The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 27.10 - 31.12.1977.
2 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 369 p. 372.