Arte Povera: Artistic Tradition and Transatlantic Dialogue

Magazzino Italian Art’s annual spring lecture series brings together some of the leading scholars of Arte Povera who present new perspectives on postwar Italian art. The 2023 lecture series, curated by Dr. Roberta Minnucci, Magazzino’s 2022–23 Scholar-in-Residence, will address research topics which are strictly interconnected with Arte Povera’s relationship with the past and its artistic exchanges with the United States. Participants for the 2023 season will feature Dr. Marin R. Sullivan, Dr. Roberta Minnucci, Dr. Laura Petican, and Dr. Raffaele Bedarida.

Contributions from the selected scholars will shed light on crucial aspects of postwar Italian art including: the legacy of the Baroque and the influence of the Italian artistic tradition on more recent practices (Dr. Laura Petican, Independent scholar); the role exhibitions of Italian art in the U.S. had in influencing the way Italian art was interpreted at home (Dr. Raffaele Bedarida, Associate Professor of History of Art at the Cooper Union, New York); sculptural projects made by foreign and Italian artists during the 1960s and 1970s (Dr. Marin R. Sullivan, Lecturer, Department of History of Art and Architecture DePaul University, Chicago); the reinterpretation of classical antiquity and art history in Arte Povera (Dr. Roberta Minnucci, art historian specializing in Italian art of the 1960s and 1970s, with a PhD from the University of Nottingham).

The lectures will last approximately 45 minutes and be followed by a Q&A session. Tickets can be reserved here. Details on each program follow below:​

Material Dispersions: Sculpture and Photography in Postwar Italy 
March 18, 2023, 12pm
Dr. Marin R. Sullivan, Lecturer, Department of the History of Art and Architecture DePaul University, Chicago. Dr. Marin R. Sullivan’s lecture will focus on a selection of sculptural projects made by foreign and Italian artists during the 1960s and 1970s as a means to examine how the terms of sculpture were being transformed through transatlantic exchanges.

Casting the Past: Arte Povera and Classical Sculpture 
April 1, 2023, 12pm
Dr. Roberta Minnucci, Magazzino Italian Art 2022–23 Scholar-in-Residence. Dr. Roberta Minnucci’s presentation will investigate the reinterpretation of classical statuary in Arte Povera by examining how some artists in particular—namely Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Paolini and Michelangelo Pistoletto—engaged with sculptural materiality and figuration while exploring the layered temporalities of the work of art.

Arte Povera and the Baroque: The Evolution of National Identity 
April 15, 2023, 12pm
Dr. Laura Petican, Independent scholar. Dr. Laura Petican’s lecture will examine Arte Povera’s relationship with the Baroque as a historical and conceptual category, shedding light on Arte Povera’s relation to national identity, cultural heritage, and art historical narratives.

Between Cultural Diplomacy and Counterculture: Eugenio Battisti, Alan Solomon, and the Exhibition Young Italians in 1968
April 30, 2023, 12pm
Dr. Raffaele Bedarida, Associate Professor of History of Art at the Cooper Union, New York. Dr. Raffaele Bedarida’s lecture will focus on the promotion and reception of Arte Povera in the U.S., investigating how this process contributed to shape Arte Povera’s Italian identity within an international context.