Arte povera. Notes for History
01.11.2023 from 19:30 to 21:00
On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Michelangelo Pistoletto. Molti di uno (Many of One), Castello di Rivoli premieres the docufilm Arte povera: Notes for History, aired on Sky Arte and on demand on November 28, 2023.
Directed by Andrea Bettinetti and narrated by Giuseppe Cederna, Arte povera: Notes for History is a collaboration between Michele Bongiorno (Good Day Films) and Sky Arte, with support from Gruppo Unipol, Azimut, the Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection, Christian Stein Gallery, and the Film Commission Torino. Featuring an unpublished conversation with Germano Celant held in 2019 at the Fondazione Prada in Ca’ Corner, Venice, it also includes interviews with Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gilberto Zorio, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Giovanni Anselmo, Michelle Coudray, Lia Rumma, Antonio Tucci Russo, Fabio Sargentini, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Beatrice Merz, Silvia Fabro, Paolo Mussat Sartor, Gianfranco Benedetti, and Giorgio Colombo.
First comes the human being and then the system, or that’s how it was in antiquity. Today, however, society presumes to make pre-packaged human beings, ready for consumption. Anyone can propose reform, criticize, violate, and demystify, but always with the obligation to remain within the system. It is forbidden to be free. This is the incipit of Arte povera. Notes on a guerrilla war, a manifesto by Germano Celant published in Flash Art number 5 in 1967. It marked a radical departure from traditional art, advocating for a guerrilla-style movement, rejecting formal techniques and embracing humble materials like earth, wood, iron, and industrial waste.
It is a radical criticism that uses the language of contemporary society and also resorts to the use of installation and performative work. Celant’s intuition facilitates the aggregation of artists with different sensibilities, who individually experiment with their own language under a feeling strongly opposed to the cultural hegemony of the moment.
The relevance of Arte povera poetics comes to life in the docufilm presented on November 1st at Castello di Rivoli and then broadcasted on November 28th on Sky Arte and on demand. The 90-minute docufilm, directed by Andrea Bettinetti, is a work on what is considered the most important contribution to post-war art in Italy. The ambitious project was born from an idea by Michele Bongiorno of Good Day Films. «We created an unprecedented project – the producer states in an interview to la Lettura – which required unthinkable commitment and energy, but the result is truly remarkable. An effort that lasted more than three years, which generated an incredible amount of documents and allowed us to rediscover wonderful archive material.”
Initially Michele Bongiorno contacted Germano Celant and proposed a film-story in which the critic would retrace the history of the movement firsthand. Together they wrote the story and conducted a couple of interviews, but a few months later, at the beginning of 2020, the exceptional nature of the events due to the pandemic and the sudden death of the art critic put the work on hold. The project had to be modified: no longer a trip with Celant but rather starting from his last interview, to then collect the voices of the protagonists to make a choral work, a meticulous report that traces its history from 1967 to today.
The film sheds lights on the innovative aspect of the movement and the irreverent strength of a group of young artists who stir up the cultural world, profoundly impacting the growth of contemporary art. «The voice of Giuseppe Cederna accompanies us through the studios and foundations, the galleries and museums that host the most important collections – states Bongiorno –, from Rivoli to the Magazzino Italian Art Museum in New York, in a long fascinating conversation with the protagonists of this extraordinary artistic research.”
Everyone has followed a path of experimentation and individual growth such as to think that the heart of the movement is a set of artistic propulsions similar to each other, not for the language chosen but for an attitude. Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933) with the Mirror Paintings invents a new perspective dimension; Mario Merz (1925-2003) uses the shape of the igloo which reminds us of the primordial stage of man immersed in nature; Marisa Merz (1926-2019), the only woman of the movement, creates weaves with copper and nylon threads and organic and subtle, delicate and light works; Pino Pascali (1935-1968), in his short life, proposed in a playful way the elements of his Mediterranean roots, the fields, the sea, the land, the animals; Giuseppe Penone (1947) uses unusual materials for his sculptures, tree trunks, lead, copper and more; Gilberto Zorio (1944) creates sculptures with a strong symbolic impact in which the star and the javelin are recurring, representing the metaphysical world and death; Giulio Paolini (1940) crosses a conceptual dimension that tends towards the classical tradition inspired by “beauty”; Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994), ranges without borders from tapestries to postal works, to ballpoint pens, to inks, in the belief that there are no rules for creating a work of art. But it is impossible to mention them all here.
The city of Turin, where almost all the artists come from, played a pivotal role for the movement, as an industrial capital providing the humus and motivations for dissent and protest. Sensitive to the artistic avant-garde, Christian Stein Gallery played a fundamental role in understanding the extent of the phenomenon of Arte povera and accompanied it into the art market.
Produced by Michele BONGIORNO
Produced for Sky by Roberto PISONI, Dino VANNINI, Gaia PASETTO
Narrated by Giuseppe CEDERNA
Original music Fabio BAROVERO
Photography Massimo SCHIAVON
Movie editing Giovanna FERRARA
Scientific advice Antonella SOLDAINI
Colorist Fabio COLOMBO
Iconographic research Francesca LACROCE
Sound Roberto REMORINO, Simone BRIZIO
Production Sky Original
Good Day Films by Andrea Bettinetti
The docufilm was aired on Sky Arte
