Putting the World on Pause: Gianfranco Baruchello and the Experience of Agricola Cornelia from How to Imagine as an Autobiographical Diary

Abstract

The essay examines the text by Gianfranco Baruchello, How to Imagine, a narrative on art, agriculture and creativity, written with Henry Martin and published in 1983. The book is a narrative of Gianfranco Baruchello's extensive project Agricola Cornelia S.p.A (1973-1981) where personal anecdotes, artistic and philosophical speculations are intertwined in the attempt to run a farm as an artistic operation. In his book, the artist addresses several themes related to his work such as: the relationship with Marcel Duchamp, politics, ethics, art and life. How to Imagine is here examined as a diary that responds to a need for self-knowledge.  Within the text there are numerous elements that can be traced back to a personal analysis and a willingness to pause in order to reconsider his own experience and his way of making art. This moment of suspension and reflection can be linked to the Covid-19 pandemic when everyone had to deal with a forced pause to find a new rhythm of life from which to start again.