The dining table of cultures

Mantua, Italy : Edizioni Corraini, 2005. Small quarto (250 x 180 mm), pp. 32 printed on diecut aluminium leaves, spiral bound, in publisher’s original cardboard slipcase. Limited to 700 copies, signed and numbered by the artist. Text in English and Italian. An as new copy, very fine.

A striking artist’s book / private press production, printed entirely on aluminium sheets, which accompanied Pistoletto’s exhibition of the same name, where he created six large scale dining tables out of steel, conceived as meeting point for the cultures and nations bordering the seas.

“Understanding and accepting the Other is the most threatening dare that recent history challenges us”, says Angela Vettese, editor of this book. Michelangelo Pistoletto picks up this dare and shows us six “dining tables of cultures”, projected thinking at the form of the seas that link different people, landscapes and cultures: from Mediterranean sea to Baltic, from South China sea to Caribbean sea, without forgetting Black and Red sea. If a sea joins, an island can be the setting of a world in which art claims a responsible change in society: in San Servolo island near Venice, the italian artist presented Cittadellarte, some installations that show a different social structure in politics, communication, works, economics and so on. Even the book’s construction reflects Pistoletto’s sensibility towards nature: every page, included cover, are made of aluminium. Some of these are punched and, like open doors, show the concepts on which is based the new civilization pushed by Cittadellarte.

‘Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian painter, performance artist, and theorist. Best known for his innovative stainless steel paintings with mirror-like surfaces, he also produced pioneering performance art and sculptural installations. He maintained a lifelong interest in the use of humble and discarded materials and, at the height of his career, was considered one of the stars of the Italian art movement Arte Povera. Born on June 25, 1933 in Biella, Italy, he studied art while apprenticing at his father’s restoration workshop, and in 1960, mounted his first solo show of figurative paintings and portraits at the Galleria Galatea in Turin. He rose to international prominence with his sculpture series Minus Objects(1966), which includes a set of columns and a two-dimensional table and chairs. The work, along with a series of mirror paintings, was awarded first prize in the São Paulo Biennale. Growing increasingly reclusive over time, Pistoletto withdrew his work from the Venice Biennale in 1968 due to the student riots. He has had solo exhibitions in institutions around the world, notably including the Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He lives in Turin, Italy.’ – Artnet http://www.artnet.com/artists/michelangelo-pistoletto/