Among the complete portfolios selected are those by Jake & Dinos Chapman, a comic series of twelve plates inspired by children's books from the early years of the last century, entitled My Giant Colouring Book; Olafur Eliasson, with the large installation The Colour Spectrum, reproducing the entire solar spectrum in of forty-eight separate pieces (to create a total work of circa 3.6 x 4 metres); Günther Förg, whose series To the Builders is composed of twenty-four plates and was created with the particular method of terragraphie, which uses the very materials in use on building sites.
Mona Hatoum is exhibiting Hair, There and Everywhere, ten etchings that reproduce the delicate drawings created with the Palestinian artist's own hair, a refined and difficult engraving process created with the help of esteemed printer Jacob Samuel, whose expertise has been used by other artists on show, such as Gabriel Orozco, Guillermo Kuitca and Miroslaw Balka.
The Biella Prize for Engraving 2006 is presenting various works that have never been seen in Italy, some of which are large-scale: the monumental works by Simon Frost, Joseph Grigely, Jane Hammond and two enormous woodcuts by Christiane Baumgartner (which are translations in woodcut of two video frames shot by the artist). By contrast, although 20 metres in length Carole Benzaken's Candide is only 5 cm high. Benzaken was the winner in 2004 of the Marcel Duchamp prize, awarded by the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Also taking part in the show are Enrique Chagoya, with the series Disasters of War, which, in a cynical and contemporary way, modernizes Goya's great masterpiece; Walton Ford, whose work continues the tradition nineteenth century zoological but with a political inflection; as well as great masters of contemporary engraving, such as Jim Dine, Richard Hamilton, William Kentridge, Per Kirkeby, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Kiki Smith and Terry Winters together with Goshka Macuga, Tal R, Olaf Nicolai and Francesco Simeti, young artists concerned with more experimental techniques such as prints by plotter or photogravure.
The rich core of exhibited works is juxtaposed by a section, in the show's last room, dedicated to Giulio Paolini, a masterful exponent of Arte Povera.
Paolini, the winner of the last edition, presents an artist's project, entirely conceived and installed by him, where over twenty works will be exhibited, selected in chronological order. The artist, who has always been interested in the world of graphics, is also presenting the lithograph on paper, commissioned by the Biella Prize and created last year, entitled Rue Principale.
List of the artists:
Miroslaw Balka, Christiane Baumgartner, Carole Benzaken, Sophie Calle, Enrique Chagoya, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Jim Dine, Olafur Eliasson, Walton Ford, Günther Förg, Simon Frost, Joseph Grigely, Richard Hamilton, Jane Hammond, Mona Hatoum, Yun-Fei Ji, William Kentridge, Sovann Kim, Per Kirkeby, Guillermo Kuitca, Michael Landy, Goshka Macuga, Julie Mehretu, Olaf Nicolai, Gabriel Orozco, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Tal R, Adrian Schiess, Linda Schwarz, Francesco Simeti, Kiki Smith, Richard Tuttle, Rachel Whiteread, Terry Winters.
