Art Book Show

Cats

Artphilein Library

Feb. 7th – May. 22nd 2026

Artphilein Library in Paradiso opens a group exhibition of photographs dedicated to the cat — a free and independent figure, at times elusive, at times complicit, an animal that for centuries has inhabited images, homes, streets, books, and dreams.
The exhibition stems from a shared reflection on the cat as an animal in its primary essence and on the relationship humans establish with it today.
How do we look at the cat? And how does the cat look back at us?
Here, the cat becomes a liminal figure, moving between everyday life and symbolism, intimacy and distance, observation and mystery.
The participating artists were invited to submit one or more images exploring this theme. From this collective process emerged both a photobook, curated by Caterina De Pietri and published by Artphilein Editions, and an exhibition conceived as its spatial extension.
The volume is accompanied by a critical text by philosopher Matteo Maria Paolucci, which examines the
symbolic, cultural, and relational implications of the feline figure.
The exhibition presents reproductions of the artists’ images alongside a selection of photobooks dedicated to cats, sourced from around the world, offering a layered and multifaceted perspective on a subject that is at once familiar and enigmatic.
Exhibiting Artists:
Veronica Barbato, Pietro Bologna, Sergey Bratkov, Danae Bulfone, Alessandra Calò, Simone Casetta, Gabriele Chiapparini, Carmen Colombo, Marco D’Anna, Aline d’Auria, Thiago Dezan, Matteo Di Giovanni, Vittoria Fragapane, Fiorella Iacono, Anastasia Khoroshilova, Sonia Lenzi, Luigi Lista, Sara Munari, Francesco Pennacchio, Igor Ponti, Katie Prock, Marco Rigamonti, Marcello Ruvidotti, Gian Marco Sanna, Giorgia Vanzolini, Alessandro Vicario.