The project dedicated to the artist Matthew Barney, curated by Olga Gambari, will be staged in Turin from 29 October 2008 and divided into four parts. A film review of his titles at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (Cinema Massimo, from 3 to 6 November 2008), a conference (31 October) in collaboration with Labont-Department of Philosophy of the University of Turin and a workshop (29 October) with students from the Accademia Albertina and the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Turin will rotate around the central exhibition in the Fondazione Merz (open to the public from 31 October 2008 to 11 January 2009).

The artist, who will be present at all the events, will work with the space of the Fondazione Merz and the permanent works by Mario Merz. The objective is to create a site-specific installation, where the architectural and historical apsects of this former Lancia industrial building, as, too, the works and personality of Mario Merz, will dialogue with an eclectic artist such as Matthew Barney.

A large central installaion will include five monitors on which the films making up the series Cremaster will be shown simultaneously. A long series of other monitors placed around the edges of the Fondation will show chapters from the series Drawing Restraint, which have accompanied Matthew Barney’s career ever since his degree thesis. The two cycles, Cremaster and Drawing Restraint, will be shown together for the first time. They will take form from real diaries of visual notes from which his major works emerge. Furthermore, Barney will also exhibit a series of drawings, enclosed in its sculptural showcase. This recent work arises from the video Drawing Restraint 15.