Le décor change (Le Temple de la Gloire), 1983-84

Le Temple de la Gloire is the general subtitle of a work conceived in 1983 and reformulated in overall nine variants (GPO-0490, GPO-0492, GPO-0493, GPO-0500, GPO-0508, GPO-0510, GPO-0526, GPO-0559, GPO-0808). A constant element is the golden pilllow, on which Paolini each time proposes an "offer", while the title quotes a phrase or a verse from the opera libretto of Le Temple de la Gloire (1745) by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Depending on the exhibition itself, the arrangement of the pillow also varies, at times integrated with complementary elements.
The work is based on the contrast between the eloquence of the elegant pillow, evocative of a solemn ritual – in a dimension that is outside of the flow of time – and the ephemeral futility of the object offered, which is prosaic and inconsistent.
In this seventh variant the golden pillow is arranged so that it relates to the occasion for display in which it is presented, so that each time it has a new configuration. In the first exhibition of the work in Bologna in 1984 the artist placed on the pillow a fragment of paper that referred to the title of the work itself (“Le décor change”) and at the same time announced a possible "change of scene", while around the pillow other fragments of paper bore the title of the four works on display. In the 1990 installation, instead, a large rock held on the pillow several typescript sheets with the titles of the other works on display, while scattered underneath the pillow and on the ground were several site plans of the exhibition area.