From 7 May to 5 July 2026, we welcome to the CAMeC Project Room a tribute to one of the great protagonists of Italian contemporary art
On Thursday 7 May 2026, at 5.00 pm, we inaugurate at CAMeC – Centre of Modern and Contemporary Art of La Spezia the exhibition Michelangelo Pistoletto. Memory of an Instant. Four Mirror Paintings, open until 5 July 2026 in the museum’s new Project Room, with free admission.
With this exhibition project, we pay tribute to Michelangelo Pistoletto, a central figure in international contemporary art and a key protagonist in the renewal of artistic languages in the second half of the twentieth century. At the heart of the exhibition, we present the Mirror Paintings, the founding core of his research: works in which the reflective surface does not simply return an image, but welcomes space, time and the presence of those who observe.
The painting as a place of relation
In the Mirror Paintings, the work is never closed in on itself. The reflective surface includes the surrounding environment, the movement of visitors, the light and the very instant in which the gaze encounters the image.
The painting thus becomes a living space, in continuous transformation: a place where reality and representation overlap and where those who observe enter directly into the artistic experience. It is precisely in this open relation between work, viewer and world that we recognise one of the most radical intuitions of Pistoletto’s research.
The works on display
The exhibition presents four works. Two belong to CAMeC’s permanent collection: Self-Portrait from 1970 and Monkey in a Cage from 1962–73, made respectively through silkscreen printing on mirror-polished nickel-plated copper plate and mirror-polished stainless steel.
These are joined by two works on loan, belonging to the Fractals series, created between 1999 and 2000. They are mirror surfaces with mixtilinear profiles, crossed respectively by numerical sequences and chromatic traces. In these works, the reference to the geometric object defined by Benoît Mandelbrot becomes an opportunity to reflect on time, infinity and the continuous transformation of reality.
By bringing these four works together, we present some of the fundamental elements of Pistoletto’s poetics: the relationship between image and reality, the involvement of the public and the participatory dimension of the artistic experience.
Pistoletto and the La Spezia area
The exhibition also takes on a special meaning because of the artist’s connection with our territory. Michelangelo Pistoletto’s path has in fact crossed the province of La Spezia, particularly Corniglia, in the Cinque Terre, where the local community took part in important experimental experiences connected with his work.
With this project, Pistoletto returns to CAMeC almost twenty years after the exhibition Cittadellarte. Pistoletto and the Third Paradise, hosted by the museum between 2007 and 2008.
The CAMeC Project Room
The exhibition is part of the programme of CAMeC’s new Project Room, a ground-floor space dedicated to autonomous, experimental exhibition projects in dialogue with contemporary creativity.
Accessible directly from the museum entrance, the Project Room is conceived as a space for welcome, research and in-depth exploration, with a bi-monthly programme and free admission.
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Michelangelo Pistoletto was born in Biella in 1933. A protagonist in the birth of Arte Povera, he is among the most influential Italian contemporary artists internationally. His research intertwines visual arts, performance and civic engagement, investigating the relationship between art, society and responsible transformation.
In 1998, he founded Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, an international laboratory dedicated to the dialogue between art and social change. He has taken part several times in the Venice Biennale, where in 2003 he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. His works are held in the collections of major museums around the world.
Practical information
Michelangelo Pistoletto. Memory of an Instant. Four Mirror Paintings
From 7 May to 5 July 2026
Opening: Thursday 7 May 2026, 5.00 pm
Free admission to the Project Room
