Alice Cattaneo. Where the space calls forth the sign

From the outset, Cattaneo has embraced the lesson of anti-sculpture, working from the spatial point of view with forms and materials often interpreted in their essence, making reference both to weights and balances and to the lack thereof.

Alice Cattaneo. Where the space calls forth the sign collects different moments of the artist's research, which draw a score marked by words such as rhythm, interruption and care. A volume published on the occasion of the homonymous anthological exhibition opened on 15 April 2025 at the GAM in Turin, curated by Giovanni Giacomo Paolin.

The title of the exhibition was inspired by a conversation that the artist had with a master glassmaker in Murano who – to show her when and at which point to cut a specific element for one of her sculptures – suggested that she do so “where the material calls for it”. The meaning of the artisan’s words falls somewhere between the visible and the invisible, evoking certain intrinsic qualities of the material, with which it is possible to establish a certain type of relationship solely through the passing of time. The implication is that we should listen just as much to what we have in front of us as to the intuition constructed by our experience.