Italian artist and Arte Povera pioneer Michelangelo Pistoletto will stage new work at the Great Pyramids of Giza.
The 91-year-old artist has been announced as a headliner leading this year’s “Forever Is Now,” the annual outdoor exhibition that invites artists to create site-specific work using the ancient wonder of the world as a dramatic backdrop.
While full details of Pistoletto’s work are yet to be released, it has been described as a monumental installation that will bring together elements of ancient civilization with modern ideas by Art D’Egypte, the organization that stages “Forever is Now.”
“Having Michelangelo Pistoletto join Forever Is Now is a historic moment for Egypt and for global contemporary art,” Art D’Égypte’s founder Nadine Abdel Ghaffar said in a statement. “Bringing his voice to the Pyramids is not just symbolic, it’s visionary.”
JR, Greetings From Giza (2021). Courtesy of the artist and Forever Is Now. Photo: MO4NETWORK.
For decades, Pistoletto has incorporated social impact into his practice, a point emphasized by his Citadellearte foundation, which over the past 25 years has instructed professionals on the ways in which art can positively affect society. True to form, Citadellearte is involved in Pistoletto’s project at the pyramids. Artists living in Egypt are invited to apply for a fully-funded three-year bachelor course at the organization’s Unidee Academy in Biella, Pistoletto’s hometown in northern Italy, an initiative backed by the Italian Institute of Culture in Cairo and the foundation itself.
“Cittadellarte aims at making art as a bridge between peoples, across cultures and geographies,” Paolo Naldini, the director of Citadellearte, said in a statement. “I take the invitation from Art d’Egypte and the collaboration with Italian Institute of Culture as an opportunity to build a bridge across the Mediterranean Sea that connects Venice and Cairo.”
Born in 1933, Pistoletto began to receive international attention in the 1960s with his mirror paintings, which disrupted traditions of artistic perspective by integrating viewers into the artwork. Along with the likes of Giovanni Anselmo and Jannis Kounellis, Pistoletto was a protagonist in Arte Povera, a post-war movement that employed everyday materials to challenge the commercialization of the art world.
In 2003, Pistoletto penned Third Paradise, a manifesto that called for a balance between nature and artifice capable of leading to a “realistic utopia.” Its mark, an infinity symbol with three loops, has appeared across his work. Third Paradise is developed and championed by Citadellearte, which is set to hold an installation on the concept at the coming Venice Biennale.
Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn poses under his installation, entitled Together. Photo: courtesy Ammar Abd Rabbo/Art D’Egypte.
On the back of this work, Pistoletto was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in February of this year. The artist noted that the nomination carried a commitment to carry on his socially engaged work. “Art must take on a propulsive role for radical change, bringing about a shared, responsible concept of humanity.”
This year marks the fifth successive edition of “Forever Is Now”, which typically takes place in October and November. Previous highlights include photographer JR’s pyramid-shaped photo booth, Lorenzo Quinn’s giant pair of hands that broke out of the desert to touch one another, and Gisela Colón’s 30-foot-long bean of titanium that resembled a rising sun.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
