An unusual confrontation arose between the newly built Stuttgart Staatsgalerie and the work of Giulio Paolini. In this retrospective Paolini achieved a tour de force by turning James Stirling’s idiosyncratic architecture into an arena for his own production. One can hardly imagine a more intelligent, subtle, and therefore subversive conquest of a predetermined environment. Paolini claimed exactly those points in the museum that seem least suited for exhibition purposes: for example, the awkward hall for temporary exhibitions, or the film-and-lecture hall. He thereby influenced our perceptions