The first comprehensive monograph dedicated to Emilio Prini (1943–2016), one of the most enigmatic and radical figures of Arte Povera. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Emilio Prini: …E Prini (October 27, 2023–March 31, 2024) at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, curated by Luca Lo Pinto, the volume, now available from Sternberg Press, offers the most systematic study to date of the artist’s work.
On the occasion of the publication of the monograph, MACRO will host on March 11, 2026 at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium a public presentation conceived as a collective sequence of short interventions. The evening brings together figures who knew and worked with Emilio Prini in Rome, invited to share brief reflections on their professional experience with the artist.
Structured chronologically from 1966 to 2016, the publication examines Prini’s practice through an extensive iconographic and bibliographic analysis of his archives and of the institutions in which he exhibited. Refusing any hierarchy of media, the book presents installations, sculptures, invitations, posters, typescripts, and documents without distinction—reflecting Prini’s own understanding of the work as an open and constantly rearticulated process rather than a closed object. By first analyzing works individually and then situating them within their exhibition contexts, the monograph sheds new light on the artist’s methodology and his persistent interrogation of authorship, originality, and display.
At a time marked by the overproduction and overconsumption of images and objects, Prini’s uncompromising refusal of production as necessity resonates with renewed urgency.
The volume, edited by Luca Lo Pinto, includes contributions by Alexander Alberro, Stefano Chiodi, Lara Favaretto, Adam Harrison, John Knight, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Luca Lo Pinto, Timotea Prini, Anri Sala, and Andrea Viliani. It is designed by Experimental Jetset.
The publication is supported by the Italian Council (2024), a program of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.