Reggia di Caserta hosts Michelangelo Pistoletto's Metawork exhibition

From Nov. 27 to June 30, the Reggia di Caserta will host a new exhibition by Michelangelo Pistoletto (Biella, 1933), one of the most significant and prolific figures in contemporary Italian art, a leading figure in the radical renewal of artistic language and theArte Povera movement. The exhibition, entitled Metawork and curated by Tiziana Maffei, takes its name from the work Metawork-United Portraits, presented for the first time on this occasion.

This work stems from photographic portraits of eight Cittadellarte citizens, subsequently reworked through an artificial intelligence program, in a process that recalls the transition from the personal to the collective dimension, characteristic of Pistoletto’s work, as was already the case in the famous Quadri specchianti. The exhibition, produced by the Reggia di Caserta Museum in collaboration with Opera Laboratori, Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto and Galleria Continua, offers a deep immersion in the themes of metamorphosis and interconnectedness, central to the Biella artist’s vision.

Some of the works in the exhibition

Prominent among the themes is the link between art and spirituality, explored in the work The Time of Judgment. This work, displayed in the west wing of the Reggia, is presented as a symbolic temple that brings together the main monotheistic religions-Christianity, Islam, Judaism-and Buddhism. Each faith is represented through a symbolic element placed in front of a mirror: a kneeler, a prayer rug, a statue of Buddha. Pistoletto’s art is distinguished by its dialogic approach, oriented toward exchange and confrontation. It is an ever-evolving quest to re-establish an authentic connection between the art world and everyday life, taking art outside its boundaries and integrating it into the human experience.

In 2003, Pistoletto presented at the Venice Biennale the project Love Difference - Artistic Movement for an Intermediterranean Politics, represented by a large mirrored table modeled on the shape of the Mediterranean, surrounded by chairs from the countries bordering this sea. Two years later, he made the first permanent installation of the Love Difference slogan, with neon lettering in different languages, on the facade of the multi-ethnic market in Turin’s Piazza della Repubblica. This message, repeated in various venues, represents a synthesis of Pistoletto’s political and artistic vision, as expressed in his 2002 manifesto: “Uniformity and difference are antagonistic terms that reflect the deepest conflicting tension of global reality. A politics that teaches to love differences is essential for new social perspectives.”

Among the works on display at the Reggia, Naked Mass of 2020 portrays human figures without clothing, extolling the beauty of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, while the series Division Multiplication-Third Paradise reflects on the tension between nature and artifice. The latter is developed through eight pairs of mirrors on which appears the symbol of the Third Paradise, a reworking of the mathematical sign of infinity, where a central third circle represents the womb of a new humanity, the ideal outcome of the synthesis between the two opposite poles.

Other mirror works in the exhibition include QR Code Possession - Self-Portrait, in which twelve QR codes tattooed on the artist’s body refer to key moments in his production, and ConTatto, which reworks Michelangelo Buonarroti’s iconic Creation of Adam. Here, creative generation does not occur from contact with the divine hand, but emerges from the human hand alone through the mirroring device. In addition, QR Code Possession - The Formula of Creation Meetings (2023) presents twenty canvases that, through QR codes, lead to discussions about the book The Formula of Creation between the artist and personalities from various fields. Also on view in the Grand Gallery is Labyrinth, a work emblematic of Arte Povera, particularly in its use of cardboard, first presented in his solo show at the Boymanns Museum in Amsterdam in 1969. “The labyrinth is a highly symbolic place. The legend of the Minotaur stands for the monster that lives within us and the possibility that all of us, at some time in our private lives or in our collective lives, will be forced to face ourselves. My labyrinth is made of corrugated cardboard, a flexible material that allows it to take any shape and fit into any space. In a sense it is like the mirror that accommodates any image. It presents itself as a physical element that is at the same time strongly linked to the imagination,” said Pistoletto, in an interview with G. Celant in Michelangelo Pistoletto. The Mirror of Judgement.

“An important exhibition that in its multiplicity enhances multiple themes consistent with our museum mission,” says Tiziana Maffei, curator of the exhibition and director of the Reggia di Caserta - The red thread is with Terrae Motus that constantly brings the Reggia back to the steps of contemporaneity with the artists involved, at the time, in the operation. The attention to dialogue and art-in this place that is the space of an international diplomacy founded on cultural confrontation, the circulation of ideas and reflections, experimentation and innovation-find here a persistent reference. Lastly, it is a metaphorical tribute to the work that the Reggia carries out with commitment, releasing material creative technical energy on a daily basis. I thank Master Michelangelo Pistoletto and the different actors in this operation for taking up the invitation of the Reggia. The Grand Gallery space thus continues its journey in content construction by expanding its cultural offerings in a rich system of relationships."

Practical information

A visit to the exhibition is included in the cost of a ticket/subscription to the Reggia di Caserta Museum.

Hours: 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. with last entry one hour before closing.

Reggia di Caserta hosts Michelangelo Pistoletto's Metawork exhibition

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