This volume, published with the support of the Piedmont Region, is a tribute to the forty years of activity of Luciano Pistoi (1927-1995), art critic, cultural promoter and organiser, and one of the most important and influential gallery owners in Italy. His career developed between Turin, Rome and Castello di Volpaia, where he was quick to present emerging international artists, chosen counter to prevailing opinion with great passion and intuition. This led to the formation of a fine collection and the renewal of the contemporary artistic environment. Born into a Tuscan family, he came to Turin at a very young age and in the 1950s wrote as an art critic for “L’Unità”. In 1957 he opened the Galleria Notizie with an exhibition by Wols and continued by presenting the works of Fautrier, Pollock, Burri, Fontana, Dubuffet, Mathieu, Tobey, Spazzapan, Imai, Tàpies, Accardi, Gallizio, Twombly, Jorn, Shiraga, Riopelle, Francis, Nevelson and other protagonists of the informal movement. He organised extraordinary exhibitions in Turin, including, in collaboration with Michel Tapié, the first exhibition in Europe of the Japanese Gutai group in 1959 and in the same year, again with the French critic, the international Arte Nuova exhibition at the Circolo degli Artisti. In addition to Tapié, he worked with the most active and committed art critics of the time: Enrico Crispolti, Carla Lonzi, Maurizio Fagiolo and Giuliano Briganti.

The PAV, Parco d’Arte Vivente (Park of Living Art), owned by the City of Turin, was conceived in 2002 from an idea of the Park of Living Art Cultural Association, which subsequently developed it together with the Councillorship for the Resources and the Culture Development of Turin. A first section of the PAV is currently open and functional, inspired by the marriage of art and nature. The PAV is located in Turin and the completion of the project is expected by the end of 2007. The leading concept of the PAV is of an "interactive museum in nature". The PAV urban planning is based on the most advanced standards of biocompatible architecture and landscape architecture.

The Artistic Direction Committee, coordinated by Ivana Mulatero, includes the French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. The PAV team includes a group of cultural operators engaged in all the institutional activities and especially in the Creative Research Section, coordinated by Tea Taramino.

This volume marks the start of a series dedicated to contemporary art promoted and coordinated by Catalogarte. Archivio del catalogo d’esposizione d’arte moderna e contemporanea, set up in 1985 at the Department of Culture. For twenty years Catalogarte. Archivio del catalogo d’esposizione di arte moderna e contemporanea has been documenting and preserving the historical memory of exhibitions in Turin and Piedmont. This is the basis for the decision to give the Archive a series of publications which, through its double value as a tool for documentation and analysis, provides, with the succession of volumes, a useful contribution to the in-depth study and knowledge of particular themes and topics stimulated by the daily evolution of artistic events, reconstructing their history and providing of reference from which certain events and experiences originate in a straightforward way that nevertheless reflects any problem areas, in order to evaluate better not only the premises but also their development. 

This book documents the experience of the food4thought project, its development, the exhibitions and performances which have accompanied it, the thoughts and experiences of its creators and of the experts, artists, cooks and protagonists of the world of art and culture that helped make it happen.

Four chefs of international acclaim and five of the most fascinating artists on the contemporary scene take visitors on a unique discovery of the complex rituals connected to food, including nourishment, taste, instincts and consumption. There are four leading concepts around which the exploration revolves: food/future, food/substance, food/environment and food/exchange.

Artists: Raúl Cárdenas Osuna, Francesco Jodice, Dunja Scannavini, Sissel Tolaas, Ben Vautier

Cooks: Burkhard Bacher, Herbert Hintner, Thomas Mayr, Davide Scabin

The book is published on the occasion of the exhibition held at the Estorick Collection in London from September 14th to December 18th 2005.

From Futurism to Arte Povera: Works from the Marcello Levi Collection exhibition brings to London for the first time over fifty paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations from the collection of Marcello Levi, one of the leading collectors of contemporary art in Italy. Levi began collecting Futurist drawings and masters such as Klee and Man Ray, before becoming one of the earliest collectors of Arte Povera. His incredible foresight enabled him to gather together a remarkable body of work that has rarely been shown in public before.

Levi was active during the same years as Eric Estorick, but tended to favour abstract rather than figurative art. The exhibitions selection, installation and display of key works reveals fascinating parallels and differences in their approaches to collecting, making this a particularly stimulating and insightful venture for the Estorick Collection.

The book includes two essays by Robert Lumley (Professor of Italian Cultural History at University College in London) and by Francesco Manacorda, art critic and curator of the Levi collection, plus a conversation curated by Maria Centonze.

The book documents the Guggenheim Public project, a complex process that lasted five years: from September 1996 to December 2001. The inspiration for the project is easily recognisable and leads back to the legacy of Josef Beuys. The intention of Anita Sieff, creator and curator of the entire programme, was to create a series of appointments and to make each encounter a “social sculpture”, as Beuys understood the intangible work of communication. The book takes into account the editing of the various contributions of the many participants by a flexible editorial team.