 Carbon was not only the surrogate of the toner used in photocopying machines, but at the same time the "historical" material utilised in operations involving the transformation and integration of a photocopied image.The photographic transfers used in the beginning as a quick solution for everyday duplications—temporary phases on glossy paper or on PVC—made Devalle realize that those "designs" were not only measurable shapes and transfers, but also "ready", autonomous, and definitive results.In 1976 he was appointed chair of Theory of Perception at the Brera Academy in Milan where he relocated in 1979.