Since the creation of The Archive of Metaphysical Art, the first version of this website included a NEWS section, which was soon followed by a page dedicated to OPINIONS.
The NEWS section, which followed the chronological order of the contributions, was devoted to critical notes, some of an incredibly controversial nature, regarding conferences, exhibitions, events, or articles that in our view violate both common sense and good taste, as well as the scientific correctness that should guide any research or cultural manifestation.
Often, our more than ten-year-long controversy with Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico flowed into the NEWS section in the form of bickering that was continually settled as the discussion progressed and the range of the discussion broadened.
The OPINIONS column was instead destined to include wide-ranging interventions on more culturally relevant themes, such as the criticism of the Bompiani edition of Giorgio de Chirico’s writings, or the great exhibition La natura secondo de Chirico curated by Achille Bonito Oliva in Rome.
Today, and especially after Baldacci’s piece in the NEWS section dated January 2016, entitled Passo e chiudo [Over and out], the provocative formula of the column has lost much of its raison d’être and become difficult to follow in that it requires a continuous back-and-forth between our publications and the events that provoked them (articles in the magazine “Metafisica”, exhibition catalogues, etc.).
We think the last paper in this series will remain Gerd Roos’ July 2018 paper, entitled: Zur “intellectual honesty” von Paolo “il bugiardo” Picozza [On the “intellectual honesty” of the “the liar” Paolo Picozza], in which our vice-president refutes, with ample evidence, all of the falsehoods recently written about him by the president of the de Chirico Foundation.
The issues that divide us from the de Chirico Foundation and our different historiographical approach are not only well known to the scholars who follow us, but also deserve to be developed in greater depth and on a higher level.
It must also be said that the release of “Studi OnLine” in 2014 made both previous columns less relevant.
We have therefore decided to keep only the OPINIONS section alive in a new form, preserving the three most important and still topical articles: Baldacci’s essay on de Chirico the writer (2009), Baldacci and Roos’ critique of the edition of the Scritti edited by Andrea Cortellessa (2009) and the critique of the exhibition at Palazzo delle Esposizioni (2010).
Everything else remains available for consultation, in line with our historical memory, in the 2009-2018 Archive of Opinions & News.
The OPINIONS column will continue with contributions of current studies and a new focus on book reviews.
