Wrong test

Conceived as a work halfway between an artist's book and an exhibition catalogue, Wrong Test by Riccardo Previdi presents the newest works from the series Tests that the artist started to work on three years ago. Previdi culls his test patterns mostly from the internet. He started out using test patterns created to calibrate printers, to verify the color accuracy of digital cameras, or in conjunction with medical testing. Previdi prints the images on standard A4-sized paper, crumples them up, photographs them and then reprints them, often in enlargement, following this process of apparent destruction. Printed on a wooden board or stretched on a frame, the Tests vary in texture and are integrated into spatial interventions and installations in dialogue with existing architecture. Wrong Test presents some 46 test patterns across 120 pages, accompanied by a brief text extracted from Amazon.com customer reviews of the commercial products. The series was produced for this publication.
The selection, reminiscent of a visual scientific study, places particular focus on the commercial use of digital photographs and sheds light on various aspects of the technical image. Another focal point is the confrontation with the history of the technical image and the conditions of seeing.
The catalogue includes two critical texts by Laura Barreca, the curator of the exhibition, and Thomas Tiel.
The "Premio Selezione" is a project by the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, conceived as an opportunity to present the excellence of young Italian art. The winners - artists selected by an international jury - hold a personal show at the exhibition spaces of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York. Riccardo Previdi and Nicola Pecoraro are the winners of the first edition of the "Premio Selezione" held in 2011.