Serena Giordano's 'Il dentista di Duchamp' Returns with New Stories

A new edition of Serena Giordano's book 'Il dentista di Duchamp. 15 racconti sull’arte contemporanea' has been released, adding three previously unpublished stories. Giordano, an artist, illustrator, and professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, known for her essays on art education and decorative arts, as well as co-authored volumes on art sociology with Alessandro Dal Lago, here showcases her narrative skills. The book shifts focus from famous artists—like Duchamp, Picasso, Magritte, Dubuffet, Yves Klein, and the chimpanzee artist Congo—to peripheral figures: a dentist, a coyote, a maid, neighbors, a CIA agent, a painter, and a corpse. Each story begins with a brief biography of its protagonist and reimagines a well-known episode from a new perspective. The title story explores what might have happened between Marcel Duchamp and his dentist, Dr. Tzanck, when Duchamp paid with a fake check. Other tales include the coyote's account of being confined with Joseph Beuys, Schwitters' maid trying to understand his Merzbau, and the CIA agent spying on Jackson Pollock. Marcello del Campo's afterword notes the play between truth and verisimilitude, reality and appearance, fiction and historical reconstruction. The book is published by Il Nuovo Melangolo, Genova, 2020, 259 pages, €14, ISBN 9788869832437.