THE '60S RADICAL ART MOVEMENT THAT CHANGED ITALIAN CULTURE COMES TO PARIS

The Bourse de Commerce in Paris presents a comprehensive look at Arte Povera, the Italian art movement that emerged as a counter-cultural force in the late 1960s. The exhibition brings together 250 works by 13 artists who defined this distinctive approach to art-making.

In post-war Italy, as economic prosperity and American-style consumerism transformed society, these artists turned to unconventional materials and methods. They worked with raw elements like soil, vegetables, and industrial materials, rejecting the polished aesthetics of the commercial art world.

The exhibition fills the museum's circular gallery, redesigned by architect Tadao Ando, with pieces that range from subtle interventions to room-sized installations. Visitors encounter Jannis Kounellis's arrangements of coal and burlap sacks alongside Michelangelo Pistoletto's mirror works and Mario Merz's igloos constructed from glass and metal.

Many works in the show demonstrate the movement's characteristic use of everyday materials. Giuseppe Penone's tree sculptures reveal the natural forms hidden within industrial beams, while Marisa Merz, the only woman in the core group, contributes her distinctive copper wire installations and unfired clay heads.

The exhibition traces how these artists responded to rapid industrialization in their own ways. Alighiero Boetti created embroidered maps questioning geopolitical boundaries, while Giovanni Anselmo's installations explored gravity and invisible forces using simple materials like wire and stone.

Curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev notes how the artists mixed natural elements with urban materials, creating works that generate what she describes as "flows of physical and chemical energy". The exhibition aims to show how these experimental approaches from the 1960s and '70s continue to influence contemporary artists.

Arte Povera runs until January 20, 2025, at the Bourse de Commerce, 2 Rue de Viarmes, 75001 Paris.