Michelangelo Pistoletto
Self-Portraits, Mirrors, Minus-Objects
2 June–14 October 2012
Opening: 1 June 2012, 7pm
Neue Galerie Graz
Universalmuseum Joanneum
Joanneumsviertel
8010 Graz, Austria
T +43-699/1780-9500
joanneumsviertel [at] museum-joanneum.at
Michelangelo Pistoletto is considered one of the most influential contemporary artists in Europe today. Like almost no other, he has tackled in his art the epoch-making changes in today’s world and our society in modern democracy. Bringing art into society and connecting it to everyday life lie at the centre of his work.
The retrospective in the Neue Galerie Graz focuses on Pistoletto’s early works, which were groundbreaking at their time and to be seen in context with movements such as Pop Art, Minimalism, or Conceptual Art, as well as socio-cultural changes in Italy. Besides self-representation and reflection, participation is a key concept in Pistoletto’s art. The self-portraits and the iconic mirror works brought him world-wide recognition in the 1960s. The Minus-Objects—a blow for freedom in the art system at that time—were a decisive contribution to Italian Arte Povera. Among the 58 works in total, five videos of Actions from the 1960s can also be found, which together with a selection of documentary material round off the retrospective.
In tune with this solo exhibition in the Joanneum Quarter, the Kunsthaus Graz also sheds light from September 29 onwards on Pistoletto’s current position in the context of the Cittadellarte, a creative, participatory “laboratory” which locates art interactively with all areas of human action (in collaboration with the steirischer herbst).
Pistoletto has been connected with Graz since he took part in trigon 75, for example with his solo exhibition in the Künstlerhaus Graz in 1988 and his participation in exhibitions at the Neue Galerie Graz and in the Kunsthaus Graz.
Curated by Peter Pakesch.
*Image above:
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venere degli stracci (Venus of the Rags), 1967. Photo: P. Pellion.
