Metrocubo d’infinito, with Michelangelo Pistoletto
followed by a discussion with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

To coincide with the “Arte Povera” exhibition, the Bourse de Commerce and Magma Journal present an exceptional performance by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto.

A central figure in contemporary art since the 1960s and the birth of the “Arte Povera” movement, Michelangelo Pistoletto is famous for his performances involving mirrors. In the Auditorium of the Bourse de Commerce, the artist offers an exclusive performance around the work Metrocubo d'infinito (Cubic meter of infinity), presented in the exhibition in Gallery 3 and forming part of Oggetti in meno (Minus Objects), a series of works exhibited in his studio between December 1965 and January 1966.

In this apparently ordinary, ridiculously sized box, a symbolical cubic metre, is actually vast infinity. A neutral sculpture of six mirrors tied and turned towards the interior, of which only infinite reflections can be imagined, Metrocubo d’Infinito (Infinite cubic metre) focuses Michelangelo Pistoletto’s concerns with the physical potentialities of mirrors and their mystical allusions.

The performance is followed by a discussion between Michelangelo Pistoletto and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, curator of the exhibition.

The event will be held in French, with simultaneous English translation.

Performance by artist Michelangelo Pistoletto

Discussion led by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Artistic and curatorial direction: Paul Olivennes

Associate curator: Laura Salas Redondo

Presented in collaboration with: Magma Journal

Editorial: Paul Olivennes, Boris Bergmann

Scenography: Matière Noire

With the support of Galleria Continua

Special thanks to: Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte, Maria Pistoletto, Lorenzo Fiaschi, Alessandro Lacirasella, Archivio Cittadellarte

Michelangelo Pistoletto (born in 1933 in Biella) gained recognition in the early 1960s with his series Quadri specchianti (mirror paintings). By applying images obtained through photographic transfer on highly polished steel plates, the artist includes both the viewer and their surroundings in the work of art. At the end of the decade, Pistoletto's installations with everyday materials make him a leading figure of Arte Povera. In the 1990s, his actions in urban and social environments together with the Cittadellarte Foundation and the Biella University of Ideas reinforce the political dimension of his work. In 2003, he was awarded the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (born in 1957 in the United States) is an art historian, curator, and museum director. A specialist in Arte Povera, she published a seminal monograph on the movement (London, Phaidon Press, 1999) as well as essays and studies on its artists. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev was a curator for the European Capital of Culture in Antwerp (1993) and for the Villa Medici in Rome (1998-2000), chief curator at MoMA/P.S.1 in New York (1999-2001), artistic director of the 13th edition of dOCUMENTA in Kassel, and director of the Castello di Rivoli in Turin from 2016 to 2023. In 2019, she received the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence.

Magma is an artistic platform founded by Paul Olivennes in 2022, bringing together visual artists, photographers, writers, filmmakers, sculptors, architects, and designers from around the world in an annual publication. Conceived as a forum for artistic expression aimed at artists, offering original works and new formats each year, Magma also collaborates with institutions and artists in organizing partnerships, conferences, performances, exhibitions, and documentaries.

Bridging generations and mediums, the first issue featured original contributions from Hans Ulrich Obrist, Alaa Al Aswany, Tim Breuer, Sophie Calle, Erri De Luca, Lucas Arruda, René Char, Luigi Ghirri, Frida Orupabo, Andra Ursuța, and Agnès Varda, among others. In 2024, Magma published, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and on the occasion of the exhibition celebrating the centenary of surrealism, a special edition of surrealist inquiries with original contributions from 150 artists, including Patti Smith, Georg Baselitz, Wolfgang Tillmans, Elizabeth Peyton, Anne Imhof, Hélène Delprat, Leos Carax, Thomas Bangalter, Marina Abramović, Ed Ruscha, Jacques Audiard, Étienne Daho, Barbara Chase-Riboud, William Kentridge, Simone Fattal, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Paul McCarthy, Annette Messager, Kiki Smith, and Orhan Pamuk.