Arte Povera

Coined by critic Germano Celant in 1967, the term literally means "poor art," but it didn't refer to a lack of money. Instead, it signaled a "radical stance" against the established values of government, industry, and culture. During a period of intense social upheaval in cities like Turin and Rome, artists began attacking the commercialized art market and the "power of structure."

Rather than producing polished, permanent commodities for wealthy collectors, these artists created works that were often difficult to sell or even preserve. They aimed for a "revolutionary art" free of convention, aligning themselves with the political unrest of the time and pushing for a "Ground Zero" where culture, art systems, and life were indistinguishable.

Arte Povera is defined by its rejection of oil paint, marble, and bronze. Artists instead turned to "poor" materials: rags, soil, lettuce, gold leaf, neon tubes, and industrial lead. Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Rag Wall (1967) used discarded scraps of fabric to wrap common bricks, while Mario Merz built igloos from metal armatures, glass, and bags of clay.

This wasn't just about using cheap supplies; it was an attempt to strip away the hierarchies of what is considered "art." By using found objects and organic matter, they forced the viewer to find meaning in the quotidian. The goal was to make the experience of art more immediately real, connecting the individual directly to the physical world rather than a refined, artificial version of it.

Many works were conceived as open processes rather than static forms. They embraced "contingency"—the idea that a work might change, rot, or evolve in situ. Giovanni Anselmo’s Untitled (Sculpture That Eats) is a famous example: a head of lettuce is compressed between granite blocks; as the lettuce wilts, the tension drops, and the piece must be "fed" with fresh greens to remain intact.

This fascination with natural forces extended to electricity, oxidation, and temperature. Artists used refrigeration units to create frost, or left materials exposed to the elements to develop a patina of rust or verdigris. These processes served as a visual index of time, reminding the viewer that art, like life, is subject to the laws of physics and the inevitability of decay.

Arte Povera sought to bridge the gap between the natural and the artificial. Jannis Kounellis famously brought twelve live horses into the Galleria L’Attico in Rome, transforming the sterile "white cube" of the gallery into a stable. The "reality effect" of the animals—their smell, movement, and life—challenged the idea that art should be a mere representation of the world.

Similarly, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Mirror Paintings used polished steel supports that reflected the room and the people in it. The viewer was no longer a passive observer looking at a painting; they were physically integrated into the image. These strategies ensured that the artwork was never a fixed entity, but a constantly changing reality defined by the presence of life and the environment.