Conceived from an international point of view, the volume which accompanies this exhibition is dedicated to artistic experimentation with colour, optics, movement and perception, over a time period which spans the thirteenth to twentieth centuries. This exploration involves art, photography, miniatures, sculpture, science and technique, ranging from mediaeval miniatures to studies of optics and the theory of colours, from the Neo-impressionist revolution in visual perception to abstraction founded on rhythm and geometry and to optical art, and from the representation of movement to kinetic objects, scientific and technological instruments and artworks, as they enter into dialogue with the beginnings of experimental photography and cinema.

Contents

The Responsive Eye: Space Oddity
Luca Massimo Barbero

Focus on the Eye: The Treatises (Outline)
Sileno Salvagnini

Photography and Movement
Walter Guadagnini

The Movement of the Gaze
Francesca Pola

Op art, in vivo and in Theory
Matthieu Poirier

1. Colore come cosmo
2. Teoria dei colori: luce, punti, trasparenze
3. Corpi in movimento e l’occhio meccanico
4. Colore e geometrie instabili
5. Labirinti ottici del bianco e del nero
6. L’arte optical conquista la scena
7. Prospettiva e inganno
8. Il movimento delle cose
9. Dispositivi per l’occhio e la mente
10. Percezioni riflesse
11. Space Oddity