Idem VII (regesto delle opere come modello di sei immagini teoriche), 1978
GPO-0400
Idem VII (Register of Works as Six Theorical Images Motif
Photo prints, painted wooden model, black plinth
Six photo prints 30 x 40 cm each, model 55 x 84 x 91.5 cm, overall dimensions variable
Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia
In a monographic room dedicated exclusively to the work, the six photographs can be distributed in twos on the four sides of the room, or in groups of three on two sides, depending on the situation, while the model should be situated in the middle of the room.
In a larger room and in the presence of other works, the six photographs must be aligned horizontally in a row on a single wall and equidistant from each other, in the correct sequence from the view of “Idem I” to that of “Idem VI”. The model must be set up on the plinth close to the wall with the photographs, at least 1 metre away, thus allowing for a person to walk around it.
The version that completes the cycle entitled Idem, which was begun in 1972 (cf. GPO-0244, GPO-0245, GPO-0261, GPO-0265, GPO-0296, GPO-0335), is closely related to the venue of its first presentation, the Galleria Mario Diacono in Bologna. The six photographs document the previous versions of Idem,1 while the model, which reproduces the Diacono gallery, recalls the same images via six small white squares, mentioned in the title as "six theoretical images" (in the Bologna exhibition the model on display at the centre of the last room was a miniature version of the installation of the same exhibition).
“If the original arrangement of Idem can simulate going back over the virtual traces of other works, then Idem (II) can renew the same research or represent a new version of Idem, and the same goes for Idem (III). Idem (IV) is the one or the other of these two interpretations or, again, the copy of its previous equal. Idem (V, VI, VII) illustrate the same question. Can a work survive, evade the scandal of communication?"2
1 The photographs illustrate, in this order: the presentation of Idem (GPO-0244) at the Galleria Notizie in Turin in 1973, the exhibition of Idem II (GPO-0245) at the Galleria Toselli in Milan in 1973, Idem III in the form of a print edition (GPE-0010), the installation of Idem IV (GPO-0265) at the Galerie Annemarie Verna in Zurich in 1975, and the exhibitions of Idem V (GPO-0296) and Idem VI (GPO-0335) at the Galerie Paul Maenz in Cologne in 1975 and in 1976, respectively. In the exhibition at the Galleria Diacono, the six images were distributed in the various display rooms.
2 G. Paolini in the foldout for his solo show at the Galleria Mario Diacono, Bologna, October 1978.
| 1978 | Bologna, Galleria Mario Diacono, Giulio Paolini. Idem (VII), 14 October - 7 November, not repr. |
| 2007 | Reggio Emilia, Collezione Maramotti, from 20 September, no catalogue. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 79 (taken from the foldout of the solo exhibition at Galleria Mario Diacono, Bologna, October, 1978). |
| • | M. Diacono, “Le deArt et son Double: the Art of Vision”, in Giulio Paolini. Idem (VII) regesto delle opere come modello di sei immagini teoriche, exhibition brochure, Bologna, Galleria Mario Diacono, 1978, n. pag., not repr.; republished in Id., Verso una nuova iconografia (Reggio Emilia: Collezione Tauma, 1984), pp. 63-67, repr. nos. 12-15. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi, 1979, repr. p. 79 (view of the scale model). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), repr. n. pag. (exhibition views Bologna 1978). |
| • | S. Isler, Del bello intelligibile. Semiotische Analyse zu sechs Werken von Giulio Paolini, PhD dissertation (Zurich: Philosophische Fakultät I der Universität Zürich, 1983), pp. 221- 223, 226-227, 228-241 (in general on the cycle titled “Idem”), not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. pp. 82-89 (exhibition views Bologna 1978). |
| • | S. Vertone, “Non tutto qui”, in Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), p. 38, repr. no. V p. 37 (view of the scale model). |
| • | M. Disch, “L’atto espositivo. Appunti sul lavoro di Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), pp. 117, 121 (in general on the cycle titled “Idem”), not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 400 pp. 406-407, repr. (exhibition views Bologna 1978) and col. repr. (exhibition view Reggio Emilia 2007). |
