Arte Povera at Bourse de Commerce: A Missed Opportunity?

The exhibition 'Arte Povera' at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev for the Pinault Collection, has drawn criticism for its curatorial choices and installation. Despite featuring 13 key artists and exploring precursors and international heirs from the 1980s to 2000s, the show fails to capture the movement's revolutionary spirit. Emma Lavigne, director of the Pinault Foundation, acknowledged the challenge of displaying Arte Povera in the distinctive Bourse spaces. The central rotunda, inspired by the Deposito d'Arte Presente in Turin (1967-69), is deemed ineffective, with recent works by Boetti and Pistoletto confusingly placed. Monographic rooms for artists like Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, Giovanni Anselmo, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Giuseppe Penone, Alighiero Boetti, Pino Pascali, Emilio Prini, and Gilberto Zorio vary in quality. Highlights include Kounellis's rare early works and Merz's igloos, while Pistoletto's room is overcrowded with recent pieces. The basement rooms for Prini and Zorio effectively evoke the movement's alchemical energy. The exhibition includes period photographs by Paolo Mussat Sartor, Elisabetta Catalano, Paolo Pellion di Persano, and Claudio Abate. Critic Ludovico Pratesi suggests the show domesticates what Germano Celant in 1967 called a 'guerrilla' movement.