Economic uncertainty triggers the revival of 'poor art'

Noticing the book entitled Arte Povera lying on my desk, my colleague exclaimed – "ooh, that’s so hot right now"… I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Literally translated as ‘poor art’, the art movement 'arte povera', given its name by the art critic Germano Celant in 1967, originated in Italy at a time of social, political and artistic upheaval. There has been a surge in arte povera exhibitions in London recently presenting works that, while often being nearly fifty years old, feel as though they could have been made yesterday.

The current exhibition The Mirror of Judgement by arte povera artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, sees the exhibition space of the Serpentine Gallery in London filled with a swirling maze of cardboard, strikingly similar to the work he created for Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, in 1969. Prior to this, the capital had already played host to exhibitions by leading arte povera artists Pino Pascali (Camden Arts Centre) and Giusseppe Penone (Haunch of Venison) earlier in the year. With the Tate Modern set to host a retrospective of the work of Alighiero Boetti in February 2012, it appears a definite trend has emerged.

Arte povera was born while Italy was dealing with the polarised economic inequalities which came about as a result of the ‘economic miracle’ of the immediate post-war period. The climate of revolution led to mass uprisings in the country as society criticised the political, cultural and commercial machines which controlled them.

Artists such as Pistoletto, Boetti and Pascali, promoted an art free from convention and the market place. They deliberately made arte povera difficult to define by avoiding a signature style, incorporating sculpture, photography, installation and performance in their work. The art was 'poor' partly because they used inexpensive materials, but most importantly because it aimed to escape all traditional or pre-conceived ideas and associations which might influence the way viewers experienced art, favouring an appreciation of the materials themselves. 

In the current climate of economic uncertainty, similar to that felt in Italy during the 1950s and 60s, arte povera’s commitment to freedom from conformity, a rejection of consumer society and an appreciation of the individual’s subjective experience seems to reflect concerns of the present as much as the past, accounting for why a movement that originated half a century ago, has become the order of today.

Rachel Mulvaney