The second instalment of the Fondazione Merz’s i quaderni series is dedicated to the major Mario Merz exhibition held last year, which presented the public with the largest selection of drawings by the great master, some of which had never been on public display before.

The series consists of slim volumes that keep the public up to date on all the activities promoted by the Turin institute. Each issue takes its cue from a particularly important event – which the Fondazione documents through images in greater numbers and detail than does a catalogue – to reconstruct the entire season of which it was part, testifying to the subtle narrative followed by the evolution of art. These publications reflect an uninterrupted dialogue with Mario Merz, with his works preserved and presented by the foundation and with his writings, of which each issue of i quaderni presents a previously unpublished selection. Each issue of i quaderni is rounded off by a section of critical texts, with lists of the works on display, and a chronology that gives a synopsis of the complex itinerary – full of performances, readings, educational activities and conferences – planned by the scientific committee which, along with the president, Beatrice Merz, includes Richard Flood (The New Museum, New York), Dieter Schwarz (Kunstmuseum, Winthertur) and Vicente Todolí (Tate Modern, London).

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 book is published on the occasion of the exhibition Lo spazio dell’uomo  (The space of man ) held at the Fondazione Merz (Turin) from 24 January to 11 May 2008. The exhibition is realised in agreement and with the support of the Regione Piemonte, with the contribution of the DIRAC (Ministero de Relaciones Exteriores), the patronage of the IILA (Istituto Italo-Latino Americano) and in collaboration with the Fundación Allende.

As the point of departure, the Fondazione Merz has chosen to present, for the first time in Europe, the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (Salvador Allende Museum of Solidarity) with a selection of 29 works from their collection of international art, and then to offer a look at current artistic production, represented here by the works of six young Chilean artists.

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.

Lida Abdul uses videos, installations and photographs to express her condition as a refugee and her constant feeling of precariousness. Her work shows us the devastating effects of the war on the Afghan people. In her works (videos, photographs, installations and performances), the artist highlights her indigenous cultural background both aesthetically and intellectually, comparing it with expressions of Western culture and art history. Using a language that is both realistic and symbolic, the artist depicts an Afghanistan tormented and destroyed by violent invasions and totalitarian regimes.

The book is published with the contribution of the Prince Claus Fund, the Campania Region and Galleria Giorgio Persano (Turin). It is the first comprehensive monograph on Lida Abdul, with a wide-ranging and detailed iconographic apparatus that illustrates the artist’s complete production.

Lida Abdul (Kabul, 1973) lived in Germany and India as a refugee before moving to the United States where she still lives. Awarded best foreign artist in the Afghanistan pavilion (first shown at the LI Venice Biennale in 2005), and the prestigious Prince Claus Award in 2006, she has exhibited her work at the Kunsthalle in Vienna, the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, the Netherlands, Central in Miami, the CAC Centre d’art Contemporain in Brétigny, the Frac Lorraine in Metz, France, and MoMA in New York. She has also participated in festivals in Mexico, Spain, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. In 2006 and 2007 she participated in the Singapore, Gwanju, São Paulo, Gothenburg, Sharjah and Moscow Biennales.

“The interviews collected here – from the first, given in 1962, to the last, published after his death in 1987 – allow us to appreciate Warhol’s constancy and his ability to continue to play the part of a sort of Sphinx swearing it has no enigma to offer.” (Alain Cueff).

There is probably no cultural personality who has been interviewed as frequently as Andy Warhol. His figure was perennially associated with the media and wherever he went, the press followed him. As far as possible, this book presents Warhol in all his dimensions over the twenty-five years he was in the spotlight. There are pieces focusing on every area of his vast oeuvre and voracious life: Andy as painter, filmmaker, publisher, promoter, performer, printmaker, photographer, author and videographer; there are interviews that illustrate Andy’s views on other artists; the experience of going shopping with him; what his feelings were about New York; how he perceived his Catholicism. Although we have tried to maintain a certain chronological balance, more than half of the interviews date from the 1960s, considered the most important period of his life. No changes have been made to the interviews, nor have revised versions of the texts been included.

Original title: I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR. Selected Andy Warhol Interviews, 1962-1987 (edited by Kenneth Goldsmith), Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 2004.