Defined by Peter Fischli as “a kaleidoscope of repudiated gestures”, the project explores a series of breaking moments in the history of painting over the last 150 years, in relation to the emergence of new social factors and cultural values. The exhibition also intends to understand if the current digital revolution can be at the origin of a new crisis in painting or, on the contrary, can contribute to its renewal.

“Is the specter that continually reappears to tell the story of the end of painting a phantom problem? And if so, can ghosts be real? ”. These were the doubts that guided Fischli in the process of designing his exhibition. In an attempt to answer these and other open questions, he identified 5 radical ruptures that correspond to paradigm shifts in art through the rejection and reinvention of painting: the spread of photography, the invention of readymade and collage, the ” death of the author ”, the criticism of painting as a consumer good and the crisis of criticism in late-capitalist society.

The artist conceived this exhibition consisting of 10 sections as a plurality of narratives told by himself in the first person. The exhibition itinerary begins on the ground floor of Ca ‘Corner della Regina with a new site-specific work by Fischli, a reduced-scale model of the entire project, defined by the artist as “a sculpture of a painting exhibition”. “Stop Painting” brings together more than 110 works and develops on the first noble floor of the building following a personal and idiosyncratic approach and avoiding presenting the works according to a simple chronological order. The set-up consists of a system of temporary walls that cross and dissect the exhibition spaces, passing through the thresholds that connect the different rooms. The works of more than 80 artists, also set up on the ground floor, in the courtyard and on the stairs of Ca ‘Corner della Regina, form the converging plots that make up the “Stop Painting” exhibition.

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