Padua exhibition reveals perception tricks in art from cosmic spheres to optical illusions

A dual exhibition titled 'L'occhio in gioco' (The Eye at Play) opens in Padua, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, celebrating the 800th anniversary of the University of Padua where Galileo Galilei once taught. The show explores how artists have engaged the eye conceptually and technically, creating instability and sensory participation through vision. The first section begins with ancient depictions of the cosmos as concentric circles, juxtaposed with works by Julio Le Parc and an installation by Tomás Saraceno. It then leaps to the birth of color theory, with examples from Pointillism and Divisionism by Georges Seurat and Anselmo Bucci. Barbero's famous 'drawers' reveal treasures like Bruno Munari's fabric designs and Giacomo Balla's 'Compenetrazione iridescente' from the Laura and Lavinia Biagiotti collection. The exhibition covers Futurism, photographic motion studies, Victor Vasarely's op art, anamorphoses, lenticular photographs, motorized sculptures by Marina Apollonio, and a focus on Dadamaino. The finale features a surprise: on July 11, 1969, nine days before the moon landing, David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' was released, with its cover image by Victor Vasarely featuring Bowie's face on a pattern of blue and violet circles. The exhibition continues with a separate section dedicated to Gruppo N, a collective active in Padua from 1960 to 1966, known for gestalt and optical art, with notable member Alberto Biasi contributing many works.