Toby Ziegler and Giulio Paolini Exhibitions Open at Tommaso Calabro in Milan

Tommaso Calabro Galleria d’Arte in Milan presents two concurrent exhibitions: 'Soft Power: Rosso – Morandi – Ziegler' and 'Atto I' by Giulio Paolini. The former marks the Italian debut of British contemporary artist Toby Ziegler (b. 1972, London), who created nine new works—six paintings, two sculptures, and a video—specifically for the gallery. Ziegler's practice engages with the persuasive power of images, their fleeting consumption, and the role of the viewer, dialoguing with works by Italian masters Medardo Rosso and Giorgio Morandi. A video piece runs common internet images through two visual recognition algorithms, producing surprising effects. The exhibition references Agamben's theory of the apparatus, Vaccari's technological unconscious, and Magritte's linguistic-logical inquiries. 'Atto I' launches a cycle of single-work presentations by Giulio Paolini (b. 1940, Genoa), focusing on metaphotographic questions. The featured piece, 'Sir Lawrence Dundas and His Grandson,' is a photographic reproduction of Johann Zoffany's painting, with Paolini replacing the canvases on the library walls with the same Zoffany image, repeated eight times. This creates a logical-spatial-temporal cul-de-sac, echoing Borges's 'Library of Babel' and Velázquez's mirror play, forcing an endless perceptual interrogation.