The works by Grazia Varisco make one think first of all to philosophical games. We observe Tavole magnetiche (Magnetic Tables). They are tables on whose surface several pieces are freely arranged: an invisible magnet is employed to hold them to the surface. Isn’t this ostensible freedom, which hides a substantial lack of choice, a metaphor of life? These tables, where one can move Mikado sticks, little squares and metal filaments, even ping-pong balls, resemble mandalas, which echo the circumstances of our experience: being magnetised by forces we don’t know, hesitating between order and chaos, oscillating between freedom of choice and compulsive repetition, taking rules into account while dealing with exceptions.

Elena Pontiggia, I giochi filosofici di Grazia Varisco, in Artiste. Presenze femminili nei movimenti artistici 1928–1968, exhibition catalogue, Castello Sfornisco, Edizioni Viennepierre, Milan 1999.