Giulio Paolini (Genoa 1940) lives in Turin and Paris. Active since the early 60s, he has often been identified with Arte Povera, though his exploration is more identifiable to the realm of Conceptual art; he has carried out projects in numerous museums in Italy and elsewhere, and has taken part in the most important exhibitions of international contemporary art; his work features in the leading museum collections throughout the world. Paolini's work has always been directed towards an analysis of the instruments and language of artistic activity. The various techniques that he uses, ranging from collage to photography, enable him to re-examine a vast repertoire of images, quotations from a past that renews itself and regains immediacy through reflection on itself. "In Extremis" is an exploration of the idea of representation and of the opportunity and rules that determine its development. After the downfall of the figurative object, fragments remain, the ruins that evoke its absence. "In Extremis" is also the theme of the workshop conducted by Paolini as visiting professor for the Advanced Course of Visual Art at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in Como. This book documents the series of lessons, the students' work and the end-of-course exhibition.