Friday, December 15, 2023

Gino de Dominicis, Lo Zodiaco, Nero Editions, Rome, 2018, photographs by Fausto Giaccone


This accordion is the documentation of an installation/performance, Lo Zodiaco that Dominicis (1947-1988) created at L'Attico gallery space in Rome between April 4 - 8th, 1970.  "The installation was a sort of tableau vivant, for five days. The signs of the zodiac, all represented by living human beings or animals with the exception of Pisces, were arranged in a semicircle and presented to the public, motionless, for the five days of the exhibition. The twelve figures of the horoscope thus divest themselves of their two-dimensionality of an illustrated almanac to acquire relief, depth, plasticity. All symbolic meaning is deliberately annulled in favour of an exact correspondence between word and image." (Alessandro Rugnone)

In his obituary in the Financial Times (June 1, 2010) Dominicis is described as someone who "...was famously disenchanted with the modern art world. Over the course of his 30-year career, he expressed contempt for critics, curators, catalogues, exhibitions and museums. He regularly refused to take part in shows, frequently destroyed his own work and loathed seeing it reproduced photographically." A further observation in this obit states, "Obsessed with a quest for immortality, he once called on scientists to halt all research and concentrate on finding a cure for death." 

13 single-sided pages, individually 5.5" x 8.25" and when unfolded 8ft 11.25"







back cover


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