Giuseppe Penone in Border Crossings Issue 128
Giuseppe Penone. To Turn Upside Down Your Own Eyes Turin 1970 gelatin silver print
We are thrilled to announce that in our upcoming issue, due out at the end of November, we will feature an interview with the iconic Italian sculptor and conceptual artist, Giuseppe Penone.
Penone’s artist statement from 1977:
“Mirrored contact lenses cover my iris
& pupil; wearing them makes me blind.
Mirrored lenses, when placed over my eyes,
indicate the point that separates me from that
which surrounds me. They are like a skin, a
border element, the interruption of a
channel of information that uses light as its
medium. Their mirrored surface is such that
the information that reaches my eye is
reflected. By blocking my vision I eliminate data
necessary for my subsequent behavior.
When my eyes, covered by mirrored
contact lenses, reflect the images they
habitually capture as I observe the world,
my sense of sight is extended in space &…
in the possibility of seeing in the future
the images captured by my eyes in the past.
The image that an artist in the representative
tradition perceives, memorizes & retransmits
at a later time by way of the work is, in this case,
transmitted from the work before the artist has
seen it. The delay with which I appropriate the
image, makes the mirrored contact lenses
divinatory of my future vision.”
–Giuseppe Penone
