Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the leaders of the Arte Povera movement, is recovering from hospitalization due to coronavirus in his hometown of Biella in northern Italy, which also houses the Pistoletto Foundation's non-profit cultural complex Cittadellarte (“City of Art”). The 86-year-old artist says: “I found myself in an empty reality... in a central vacuum, where there is no soul or personality”.
Last week, an interview with Pistoletto was published in Cittadellarte magazine, which he gave while lying on a hospital bed. The artist said that he spent three and a half weeks in the hospital and is waiting for an early discharge; later, a fund representative confirmed that Pistoletto had already returned home.
In an interview, the artist discusses life and work.. In 2003, he conceived the Third Paradise project as " According to him, the third paradise is the next phase of human development, he describes it in the online manifest as a balanced connection between man-made and natural.
Pistoletto is sure that his philosophy indicates the way that will allow to get out of this situation.. “In isolation, I managed to think a lot; I believe that we have the opportunity to get out of this terrible global experience with certain changes. The changes that I’m talking about are what we have been preparing for several decades, this is due to the meeting of differences, which is the “Third Paradise”, ”he told Cittadellarte magazine, writes theartnewspaper.
When asked whether environmental protection will become a top priority after the pandemic, Pistoletto replies: “People should take responsibility for how they eat, dress, move, how they meet and what they do together. It is also important to identify new rules and behavioral strategies that can be developed without waiting for government responses. ”. According to him, it is necessary to find new sources of energy in order to replace “such pollutants as oil”.
“It’s not enough to think that one or more people can actually make a difference, but it’s possible if everyone acts in accordance with a balanced modus vivendi,” he adds.
Pistoletto says so about his hopes:
“Homo sapiens sapiens has reached the limit of development. Now he is completely absorbed by technological systems, and here his path ends - he must find a balance between his own existence and technology ”.
In 2016, Michelangelo Pistoletto held an exhibition in the luxurious interiors of the Blenheim Palace in the UK, where, among other things, his iconic work 1967, Venus in Rags, was presented, which is a copy of an antique statue of Venus, facing a pile of old clothes.