Liu Bolin's Performance

On 3 October 2019, Chinese artist Liu Bolin held a live performance in front of a curious student body and public, where he completely camouflaged himself inside a wall of antique and contemporary volumes selected in collaboration with Bocconi University Library staff. Known as the ‘Invisible Man’ for his ability to blend into the surrounding environment, Bolin had concluded an exhibition that saw him work for two days with the staff of Verona’s Boxart Gallery.  

Since 2008, Lui Bolin has created 45 exhibitions in our country in front of locations that best represent Italian art, as part of a series of shots entitled ‘Hiding in the City’ (Nascondersi nella città). The artist selected books as the most representative element for Bocconi University, and wanted to build a background using a selection of volumes that represent the main themes of Bocconi’s collections: economics, politics, statistics, history, philosophy, econometrics, law, etc. Each class, as defined by the Journal of Economic Literature – bounded on the shelf by a colorful lookout – then became part of the artist’s performance. The colors assigned to the various classes were chosen according to color theory.

Liu Bolin’s performance was created with the help of meticulous body painting work done by his assistants, Ignazio Giordano and Mara Piras. The event concluded with a shot taken by photographer Marco Pelos Spagno, which is now displayed at the entrance of the Library.