Aula di scultura (circa 1923), 2006

Four plexiglas volumes – arranged close together on a two-tiered white platform – bear the engraving in black of a linear drawing, so as to recall the image of four worktables.1 Arranged in a circle at the centre of the platform, in the area corresponding to the point where the four volumes come in contact, are ten reproductions of photographs taken by the sculptor Constantin Brancusi in his studio in around 1923 (hence the title of the work).2 Arranged on top of the four volumes, again where they come into contact in the middle, is the image of a class register, propped up precariously on an hourglass lying on its side. The register features in autograph calligraphy the date of the opening of the specific exhibition, the title of the work and the author’s signature.
Within the virtual context of the classroom, the images of the plastic works represent the theme of the sculpture, proposed as material for thought and contemplation. In other words, in the here-and-now of the exhibition event (evoked by the date on the register), the summoning to the sculpture classroom questions the idea of sculpture itself.

1 The tables motif is the common denominator of the three works made for the solo show in Bergamo in 2006, meant to suggest a painting, drawing, and sculpture classroom, respectively (cf. Aula di pittura, GPO-0924, and Aula di disegno, GPO-0925).
2 On the occasion of the second presentation of the work in Carrara in 2008, Paolini replaced Brancusi’s images with reproductions of the sculpture Nove cerchi (1967) by Fausto Melotti.