Through the partnership with Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati, coinciding with the opening of LAC, Spazio -1 presents a monographic exhibition devoted to the Italian artist Giulio Paolini (Genoa, 1940). It forms part of a series of initiatives devoted to artists from the Olgiati collection. In fact, the exhibition was inspired by Mnemosine (Les Charmes de la Vie/7), – acquired in 2007 and displayed in Spazio -1 since its first day of opening. The work forms part of the Mnemosine (Les Charmes de la Vie, 1981-1990) cycle of six works by Paolini dedicated to the goddess of memory and created over a nine-year period. For the very first time, all the component parts have been brought together in Lugano under the artist’s personal supervision.

According to mythology, Mnemosine (the personification of memory whose very name comprises nine letters) was loved by Zeus for nine nights. The couple gave birth to the nine Muses. The key themes of Paolini’s poetry are expressed in this cycle, based on the conviction that art in our time is only possible as a re-exploration and recapitulation of its history, in a subtle intellectual game woven around the basic tenets of artistic practice. The glorification of Mnemosine by the artist is matched visually in the painting by the well-known 18th-century French painter, Jean-Antoine Watteau, entitled Les Charmes de la Vie (1718).

Catalogue
The exhibition catalogue, in Italian and English, contains images of the works in situ, critiques and a piece written by the artist especially for the occasion.