‘On the Road’ is a recurrent title (motto) that only few times reflects the in-depth meaning of the expression. A key figure in this tradition-Francis of Assisi-is the starting point of the research on contemporary art we collect in this amazing publication. Central figure to European culture, he was a challenge to the historical time and to the world in which it was his lot to live. What he did represented, on the one hand, a radical criticism of the dominant forces of his time and, on the other, an energetic response to the demands of the situation. His confrontations with the hierarchies of the age make him an inevitable reference in many later socio-cultural movements. His person has been linked to art since the 13th century, when Giotto portrayed the life of Francis in his magnificent frescoes for the church in Assisi. Ever since, the figure of il poverello has been a recurrent theme in artistic expression, manifesting his eminently creative, innovative attitude in the search for lost harmony that lives on in the utopias of all ages. The book structure is intrinsically related to ideas underpinning the attitude of Francis of Assisi that are still highly topical: human dignity in poverty, the revaluation of sensible knowledge as opposed to the hegemony of purely instrumental reason, the preservation of nature - entropy, walking as a means to knowledge (appreciating the nomadic condition in a world that is anchored in the sedentary), the condition of the landscape as the human condition (appreciation of reality, like a vast, complex and unstable loop to which nothing can be external). Of course, the list of contemporary artist (35) that sent its works and writings is invaluable: from Francis Alys, Lothar Baumgarten, CardiffandMiller and Roni Horn to Annika Kars, Amar Kanwar, Anthony McCall, and Lawrence Weiner. SELLING POINTS: . The book includes especial commissioned works by Francis Alys, Tacita Dean, Jimmie Durham, Richard Long, Anthony McCall, Perejaume, and Lawrence Weiner. . Beautifully designed and produced, the book includes some inserts especially done by the artists. Illustrated
