This talk aims to present the exhibition titled Arte Povera 1967-1971, curated by Ilaria Bernardi, opened at Wits Art Museum in Johannesburg on October 31, 2023, and promoted by Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg. This group show corresponds to the first Arte Povera exhibition in Africa and the first exhibition on Arte Povera after the passing of its theorizer, Germano Celant, in 2020. It therefore has an important historical significance.

The exhibition delves into the first phase of that research, showing works dated between 1967 and 1971 by the 13 artists who are considered the canonical exponents of Arte Povera: Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini, and Gilberto Zorio.

The exhibition is part of a double exhibition program, Arte povera and South African Art: in Conversation, which also includes the exhibition Innovations in South African Art, 1980s-2020s, curated by South African curator Thembinkosi Goniwe, and which is accompanied by a bilingual (ita/eng) volume published by Silvana Editoriale

Speakers: Ilaria Bernardi (Curator of the exhibition), Sergio Di Stefano (Publishing director of Silvana Editoriale)

Language: Italian

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Credits: arte povera più azioni povere, Amalfi, Antichi Arsenali della Repubblica, 1968. Ph. Claudio Abate. © Archivio Claudio Abate