The publication is the first comprehensive study of Baruchello’s relationship with the moving image from the sixties on. Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Gianfranco Baruchello: Cold Cinema. Film, video e opere 1960-1999, held at La Triennale di Milano in 2014 and 2015, the book opens with a densely packed montage of Baruchello’s own notes, images, and documents, presented by means of a medium dear to the artist, photocopies. An essay by Alessandro Rabottini takes us through the rooms of the exhibition at La Triennale di Milano, while a conversation between Baruchello and Massimiliano Gioni highlights some key aspects of his ideas about cinema. Carla Subrizi’s text winds its way through his entire production of films and videos, whereas an essay by Philippe-Alain Michaud examines some of the historical roots of Verifica incerta (1964-65). The heart of the publication catalogues the artist’s complete oeuvre, with a synopsis by Carla Subrizi of every single filmic work, a history of their screenings reconstructed by Daniela Zanoletti, and a selection of stills. The book ends with a critical anthology of texts that Baruchello has written during the course of his career. This section, which is edited by Carla Subrizi, is accompanied by an ample bibliography.

A compilation of notes by Rivers on his films, and essays by critics, some of which are about Rivers’s art/films while others are about the man himself. The book is copiously illustrated with stills, photographs and strips of film. It’s also a handsomely put together volume, a solid hardback (and stitched, not glued!), of the sort you seldom see these days in bookshops. Obviously, it’s only going to appeal to someone who appreciates Rivers’s films. I’ve seen only a handful of them – his three feature-length pieces and a couple of short films (included as extras on the DVDs of the former) – but I’m definitely a fan. So Ways of Worldmaking certainly gave me an insight into the man and his works. The title, incidentally, is deliberately taken from Nelson Goodman’s 1978 book, which was a seminal influence on Rivers at college. Goodman argued that “art, philosophy, and the various sciences all make statements about the nature of reality through the creation of ‘worlds’,” as one of the essays in Rivers’s Ways of Worldmaking explains. As someone who reads and writes science fiction, that’s an idea which resonates for me, although in sf the act of worldmaking is not so much overt as it is a fundamental tenet of the genre. ( )