ARTE POVERA EXHIBITION IS AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE INTO A MOVEMENT THAT SOUGHT TO RECLAIM REALITY THROUGH ITS ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF EXISTENCE. BY BRIDGING HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES, THE EXHIBITION UNDERSCORES THE ENDURING RELEVANCE OF ARTE POVERA IN UNDERSTANDING THE MATERIAL WORLD AND OUR PLACE WITHIN IT.
The Bourse de Commerce in Paris will host a significant exhibition dedicated to Arte Povera, a groundbreaking Italian art movement, from October 9, 2024, to January 27, 2025. This showcase presents an in-depth exploration of the movement through works by thirteen prominent Arte Povera artists, including Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini, and Gilberto Zorio.
Arte Povera, meaning “poor art” in Italian, emerged in the late 1960s as a response to the commercialism of American Pop Art and the silent poetry of informal art. The movement is characterized by using simple, often natural materials to create art that confronts and challenges traditional notions of aesthetics and value. The exhibition at the Bourse de Commerce will highlight how these artists used materials such as earth, metal, and wood to forge a new language in contemporary art, emphasizing the elemental and the transformative.
Curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, a renowned specialist in Arte Povera, the exhibition will present a selection of significant works from the Pinault Collection, as well as pieces from the Castello di Rivoli Museum, the Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, and various other prestigious public and private collections. The display will include historical Arte Povera works and new commissions, creating a dialogue between past and present.
Visitors to the Bourse de Commerce will encounter a dramatic entrance, where Giuseppe Penone’s monumental bronze tree installation, “Idee di pietra—1532 kg di luce” (2010), sets the tone for the exhibition. This piece embodies the movement’s themes of nature and transformation, symbolizing the intersection of human thought and natural growth. The Fibonacci Sequence (1984) by Mario Merz, installed around the building, further emphasizes the movement’s fascination with natural patterns and cosmic energy.
The exhibition will also feature over 250 works, including sculptures, installations, and multimedia pieces, arranged with the architecture of the Bourse de Commerce. Christov-Bakargiev has designed the layout to reflect the movement’s focus on space and materiality, allowing visitors to experience Arte Povera’s unique interaction with its environment.
Arte Povera’s emphasis on raw materials and elemental forms will be juxtaposed with contemporary works that resonate with its principles. This includes a section dedicated to younger and emerging artists whose practices echo Arte Povera’s exploration of primary energies and material transformation.
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