The second booklet in the RADICETERNA series is dedicated to Katinka Bock. For the programme of research and the promotion of contemporary art that sees its first realisation in the Botanical Garden of Palermo, the German artist proposes a series of new works, especially conceived for the space of the Calidarium. Popolazione (lines and straight lines), is a composite sculpture inspired by and derived from residual natural elements of the Botanical Garden, collected and used as a base for forms designed by nature itself. The Calidarium in Palermo’s Botanical Garden, originally a heated greenhouse to allow certain plant species to survive the rigours of winter, takes on a new value as a place of care and an incubator of ideas thanks to the artists involved in the project, suitable for sheltering thoughts, experiences and narratives.

The first volume of the series inaugurating the collaboration between hopefulmonster and RADICETERNA – a series bearing the same name as the cultural association responsible for the creation of exhibitions and events, curated by Valentina Bruschi, Ignazio Mortellaro and Vittorio Rappa, in the Botanical Gardens of Palermo – is dedicated to the work of the artistic duo consisting of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. The installation called The Great Silence, a complex video work capable of narrating the relationship that human beings have with nature and the world in an original way, maintains a dialogue with the space of the historic Calidarium or hothouse in the Botanical Garden, transformed into a place of study and meditation by the project through the presence of works of art relating to the theme of nature and of a library open to the public entirely devoted to texts on works by contemporary artists who have been inspired by nature.

The catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition So as to find the strength to see held at Fondazione Merz from 6th March to 27th May 2018.

“Examining the work of Fatma Bucak is like looking down on a deconstructed map. Here we find trails travelled and then cancelled out, landscapes designed and then abandoned, a geography that continually redraws itself, intertwining facts and biographies, erased events and non-identities. In the artist’s recent work, these landscapes expand from Turkey to Syria and North Africa and then reach Europe and the United States with the aim of investigating a political framework that is particularly difficult to define. The artist’s research can be understood as a constantly evolving visual practice that refers directly to the etymology of the Greek verb prássein, the meaning of which is not limited to making or doing but also picks up the idea of travelling, walking, crossing.” (Lisa Parola, Maria Centonze)

“With characteristic buoyancy of spirit, Bucak called this exhibition So as to find the strength to see. Five years after the fall of the Turkish spring, she wonders if we can smell the roses of a country besieged by forces with conflicting agendas and a shared love of violence. Lands that today reek of gunpowder can once again smell of roses. This is the vision we are asked to find the strength to see.” (Kaya Genç)

The catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Carlos Garaicoa. El Palacio de las Tres Historias held at Fondazione Merz from 30th October 2017 to 4th February 2018.

“El Pensamiento as logos and affection, word and intention, memory and distance, history and attention, metaphor and irony; this is the common thread that Carlos Garaicoa has for years spun with his art. ” (Claudia Gioia)

The catalogue reproduces the photographic documentation of the exhibition at the Fondazione Merz and a selection of Garaicoa‘s works from the 1994 to 2017. A text by the exhibition curator Claudia Gioia enlightens the dialogue between art and architecture, exploring the site specific installation at the Fondazione Merz.

The book also includes a specially commissioned text by acclaimed Cuban novelist Leonardo Padura.

The catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Massimo Bartolini. Four Organs held at Fondazione Merz from 3 July to 1 October 2017.

“It’s the first time that works planned individually are presented together and play together, like in a concert. There is a polyphony. The instruments of this quartet are four organs, called Otra Fiesta from a poem by Roberto Juarroz, Voyelles from a poem by Arthur Rimbaud, In a Landscape from a piece by John Cage and Three Quarter-tone Pieces from a piece by Charles Ives. Maracas, instead, comes along with the title of the Four Organs exhibition. I had been listening to a lot of Steve Reich for some time. There is a very good record (Four Organs): it seemed like a suggestion that I could not allow to go by. So I extrapolated Reich’s title.” (Massimo Bartolini)

The catalogue reproduces the photographic documentation of the exhibition at the Fondazione Merz and a selection of Bartolini‘s works from 1989 al 2016. A conversation between the artist and Luca Cerizza enriches the site specific installation at the Fondazione Merz.

This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Marzia Migliora. Velme curated by Beatrice Merz and held at Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice from 13 May to 26 November 2017.

“Attracted by the charm of the lagoon city, with its complex history and its most current contradictions, Marzia Migliora relates Venetian affairs and those of the world of labour through a series of legendary, literary and social implications, conceiving a project steeped in elements drawn from history and current events, making use also of some works conserved in the historic building. ” (Beatrice Merz)

The catalogue reproduces the photographic documentation of the exhibition at Ca’ Rezzonico and a selection of Marzia Migliora's works from 2002 to 2016. The project drawings realized by the artist in preparing of the exhibition stands by the curator Beatrice Merz text. A conversation between anthropologist Alberto Salza and the artist enriches the site specific installation by Marzia Migliora, whom works are on display in several rooms of the Museo del Settecento Veneziano in the historic Palazzo Ca’ Rezzonico.