07 May – 05 September 2010

“What is to be done?” asks the large scale Arte povera exhibition which the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein has realized for its 10 year anniversary. The exhibition focuses on the time between 1967 and 1972 and includes works by all principal artists of the Arte povera movement.

The artists of the Arte povera movement sought to bridge the gap between art and life, expanding consciousness by reducing the distance between the artwork and the spectator. The familiar, ordinary things that we tend to regard as worthless were to be rediscovered as new, art-worthy materials; previously neglected everyday items were to be transformed into meaningful works of art. The new art was to be more simple and more modest in its means, and more authentic in its materials.

In this way, Arte povera was to open up a poetic and sensual window on the world and the energies behind all that exists, creating metaphors of the life-force that flows from primordial sources – metaphors, above all, of the spiritual energies that seek to change rigid structures. The exhibition centres around the leading topics of the Arte povera: time, the history of the earth, energy and alchemy.

Che fare? Arte povera includes works by Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Piero Gilardi, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini, Salvo and Gilberto Zorio. Many of the works shown will be from the collection of the museum. The Arte povera has been a mainstay of the collection ever since the founding of Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. These works, more than forty in all, will be shown alongside works from public and private European collections, including some little-known works from the early years.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in German and English documenting the exhibition and the works presented. The catalogue contains essays by internationally recognised experts, such as Erica Battle, Nike Bätzner, Girogio Colombo, Maddalena Disch, Doris von Drathen, Iida Gianelli, Piero Gilardi, Ines Goldbach, Antje von Graevenitz, Catherine Grenier, Robin Hemmer, Corrado Levi, Friedemann Malsch, Christiane Meyer-Stoll, Pier Luigi Pero, Valentina Pero, Giorgio Persano, Christian Rattemeyer, Kristin Schmidt, Dieter Schwarz, Denys Zacharopoulos and Ursula Zeller.