The Foundation Merz prepares to celebrate its fourth birthday by publishing the quaderni, a series of slim volumes aiming to provide the public with the latest news regarding all the activities promoted by the Turin-based institute. Each issue takes its cue from a particularly important event – which it intends to document through images better and more numerous than in any eventual catalogue – in order to reconstruct the entire season of which it was part, testifying to the subtle narratives adopted by the evolution of art.

This first issue is dedicated to Sol Lewitt, the great American artist, exponent of minimalism and conceptual art, famous throughout the world for his Wall Paintings. 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and presented by the foundation and with his writings, of which each issue of i quaderni presents a previously unpublished selection.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).