Sarajevo, May 26, 2017: Michelangelo Pistoletto – Italian artist among the most important in the world, protagonist in the 1960s of Arte povera (Poor art) Movement – returned to Sarajevo. Upon the initiative of the Embassy of Italy and on the occasion of the Italian National Day on June 2, the artist presented his artwork Third Paradise in Sarajevo. The Master’s public lecture took place at the Amphitheater Dom Mladih / Ars Depot Ars Aevi at 12:00. The event was curated by Manuela Gandini, critic of contemporary art.
The initiative was part of a series of events that have taken place in many countries in the world and it represents an idea of unity between the man-made and natural world, aimed to the harmonization of opposites. The objective of the symbol is to be an instrument of awareness of the individual transformative power of which each of us is endowed.
At the presence of Master Pistoletto, at 14:00 on Skenderija square – a site related to the Winter Olympics in 1984 – a performance with students coming from Tuzla, Banja Luka and Mostar and of course Sarajevo took place. Days before the event, Manuela Gandini held meetings in schools to educate students about the value of the Third Paradise concept in everyday life. The symbol will thus become a collective work that participants will realize during the performance. The symbol of the Infinite, reworked by the Master adding a large central circle, is conceived as a device for transformation and rebirth for a new humanity.
This is the third time that Pistoletto visited Sarajevo: he is known as the first international artist that donated his artwork to the Ars Aevi Contemporary Art Collection, launching its international promotion. The piece is Door of the Mirror (of the Milan Collection, curated by Enrico Comi). In 2001, Pistoletto was also the first artist of the Ars Aevi Collection to have held a personal exhibition in Sarajevo, at the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He will also be the first artist involved in Ars Aevi to launch the third stage of the Collection’s development, which involves the insertion of monumental works in urban structures and public places in the city. The work that Master has chosen for this purpose is the Multiconfessional and Secular Place of Meeting.
