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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).
Entry by Maddalena Disch, 29/01/2026

Total records found: 2605

GPC-0001
Pencil on torn paper
35 x 50 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0002
Black ink on squared paper
35 x 50 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0003
Black ink on squared paper
43 x 41 cm
Private collection, courtesy Fondazione Marconi, Milan
GPC-0004
Black ink on squared paper
35 x 50 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0005
Black ink on squared paper
32 x 26 cm
Lorenzo and Marilena Bonomo Collection
GPC-0006
Black ink on squared paper
40 x 27 cm
Baldassarre Collection
GPC-0007
Black ink on squared paper
43 x 55 cm
Present whereabouts unknown
GPC-0008
Black ink on squared paper
25.9 x 25.9 cm
Private collection, Turin
GPC-0009
Torn tracing paper applied to white paper
34 x 23.3 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0010
Primed canvas mounted front and reverse on polyethylene
36 x 19 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0011
Blueprint
50 x 70 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0012
Blueprint
50 x 70 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0013
Blueprint
Two parts 40.3 x 53.1 cm each, overall dimensions 40.3 x 108.2 cm
Private collection, Milan
GPC-0014
Folded paper mounted inside a folder with a cut-out
33.5 x 50 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0015
Folded and torn paper, metal tacks
33.5 x 25.5 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-2082
Collage on blueprint
Two parts 42 x 55 cm each, overall dimensions 42 x 112 cm
Collection of the artist
GPC-0016
Sheet of drawing paper with autograph inscription, square of drawing paper
65 x 47 cm
Private collection, Turin
GPC-0017
Sheet of drawing paper with autograph inscription, envelope
55.7 x 44 cm
Private collection
GPC-0018
Sheet of drawing paper with autograph inscription, crumpled sheet of foolscap paper
Present whereabouts unknown
GPC-0019
Sheet of drawing paper with autograph inscription, sheet of foolscap paper
65 x 50 cm
Private collection, St. Gallen (Switzerland)

Total records found: 2605