Throughout 2026, the Cittadellarte Journal is hosting a series of interviews with the Foundation's collaborators, who are asked to respond to an identical set of questions. Cittadellarte in the Mirror (Cittadellarte allo specchio) — this is the name of the column — stands as an exercise in listening and self-reflection that spans different roles, practices, and sensitivities, restoring a plural portrait of the Cittadellarte organism. The questions touch upon some of the most urgent nodes of our time — from social transformation to responsibility, from education to indifference, from the risk of artistic action to the possibility of reactivating empathy — and function like a mirror: they do not seek definitive answers, but ask respondents to take a stand, to expose themselves, to question their own role in the present. In this 26th episode, the spotlight is on Michelangelo Pistoletto. The column's mirror shifts perspective: this time it reflects the person who has continued, for over sixty years, to reinvent it. The paradigm shift also affects the questions: Michelangelo Pistoletto takes them, shifts them, weaves them together, and relaunches them. Every answer is a new javelin that is not thrown against someone, but beyond a boundary of thought. Thus, we move from the artistic gesture to ethics, from responsibility to the very pleasure of creation, because, for the master, to create means never stopping to surpass what is already surpassed. A dialogue in which every concept refers to the next, in a relentless process, like a continuous fermentation.

2025 closes as a year in which the word "transition" seems to have lost its force, replaced by a widespread sense of fatigue and a return to logics of power, war, and closure. In this context, does it still make sense to talk about responsible social transformation, or do we need to change our vocabulary and rethink our practices? The word "transition" can mean many things, such as passing from one state to another. It is a passage. The term in question can also mean crossing a bridge, but then continuing along the previously mapped path. Instead, it seems to me that today we are experiencing a real change, an active and re-active type of passage; therefore, if it is a bridge, well, it must be said that there is a great deal of work to be done on that connection. This bridge leads us toward a new road that is indeed the continuation of life, but the road being traced, drawn, and organized must be traveled in a new way compared to the past. The transition, in this case, quoting Pope Francis, does not represent an era of change, but a change of era. A profound transformation thus takes place: moving from the conception of a human relationship that is always realized through the power of one in a way that eliminates the other — and therefore the system of a power in which war is the system, the guide, the method — to one in which the two sides are no longer at war, but in a situation of encounter for the realization of a state, a journey, a condition, a reality that finds balance. This second possibility not only allows both contenders to survive, but actually enables them to create together, precisely by each working for the maximum efficiency and maximum result of their own capacity. In the competition of different capabilities, progress is achieved rather than the elimination of the other. Both are then the two basic elements of society, made up of many dualities, of many people, who weave together in constructing a state, that is, a new way of being. The term "state" refers to an organization that is social and political: through a continuous weaving between individuals, and therefore according to the concept of the Braid of Preventive Peace, the only possibility for the survival and continuation of human society is achieved. The alternative is the one we are experiencing, in which one side eliminates the other to take its place and find itself dominating in the central circle.

This year as well, Cittadellarte operated on both a local and global level: from China to borderland Europe, from the Mediterranean to East Asia. Bringing an installation or a demopratic work to places loaded with history, conflict, or symbolism exposes art to unpredictable readings. How important is it for the Foundation to accept this risk?
In modern times, art has acquired an autonomy: the world has increasingly recognized art's ability to detach itself from the ground of conventions that have become ever more rigid in order to face a renewed identity, that is, one not always tied to something absolute, definitive, and superseded. Art has the capacity to surpass what is in itself surpassed, what has reached the extreme of staticity, of immobility. The condition is to move and to develop something that was not there before, because creation is that continuous fermentation that does not remain isolated solely in the aesthetic world or in the world of diversions as entertainment. Art by its very nature leads what is called "entertainment" to no longer be something apart from everyday life; rather, it is entertainment in the sense that it "diverges", making society itself move differently. Entertainment means not only enjoying something that distracts, that seems to live on its own, but instead becomes pregnant in life, in the sense that it moves society toward a continuous awareness and conception of ethics. The latter is not a definitive moral law; it is a constantly renewed ethic dynamic.

In 2026, what does it mean to educate for responsibility in a world where algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automation seem to increasingly strip space away from conscious human action and, in this sense, from authorship?
The ability to create prostheses developed from the time certain living beings became human, precisely because they were able to overcome the physical weakness they had compared to other animals that possessed horns, teeth, and powerful muscles. So, in order to hunt, instead of these "tools", they created javelins. These are prostheses that allowed humans to use artificially invented elements to proceed in survival, even managing to do things that not even the fiercest animals could do, such as bringing down prey from afar. Gradually, this invention turned against the human structure itself, causing certain individuals to feel more like predators. They copied animal rapacity to gain power over other beings who were no longer just of other species, but of the same human species. Thus, human beings were treated as animals to be preyed upon. This continues to exist, and currently, intelligence has developed prostheses — that is, technique and technology — which become increasingly advanced and rich, and are then made available by those who want to prey. Now the concept of power, by now enormous like Artificial Intelligence and technological capability brought to the highest levels, can allow the destruction of the human being or even of entire civilizations. We could reach an inevitable catastrophe that is the consequence of thousands of years of history characterized by wars, killings of one's neighbor, and murders as a system of victory. You kill the other, you remain alone, and you win. The prize is commanding everyone, and the vanquished who survived the massacres must submit to your power. This is one system. The other system, which we have initiated today, is Preventive Peace, which consists of the Braid of Preventive Peace based on the trinamique symbol of creation. The two lateral circles are inhabited by two different elements — in the case of society, by two people — holding a rope in their hands. Each has a thread of a color: I have the blue thread, you have the yellow one; together, in the center, we create a green thread, which is what is created in the connection between the two. That central rope represents the political, economic, judicial, and legislative organization that we create together by continuously weaving our two signs, our two ropes, with the central rope. On one side we bring it with one hand to hook the central rope, the other person picks it up and passes it to the hand of the other until this solid, vital, and dynamic braid is created, in which everyone participates in the decision that lies in the middle. It is called government: this is the Braid of the Statodellarte. And it is the only alternative; by now it is clear, there is no longer the illusion that there are other methods. This is the proposal — but also the solution — for the future. The other possibility is that one side continues to kill the other until war kills everyone.

During the time spent at Cittadellarte, what do you feel you have unlearned? Is there a conviction that you would let go of today compared to the past?
I believe I have unlearned nothing. My interest has always been to move from a condition of ignorance to one of knowledge. Every moment of life is for me one step after another, a movement from ignorance to knowledge. This means that as you walk, you find a constant balance that allows you to not fall, to not lose balance when lifting a foot, because you already know that the foot will settle down to always proceed with a new, renewed balance. Without one step after another, knowledge would not advance; one would remain in a totalizing dogmatism that prevents movement, making one think that a single system exists — namely, that one must pursue an absolute, even superhuman power by destroying and eliminating human beings. This is ignorance of what can happen through one step after another in knowledge. Therefore, knowledge is continuous. Even the Artificial Intelligence that we have developed is a knowledge that we use and for which we are totally responsible: we must understand that we are not just individuals at the mercy of the natural, but beings responsible for our artificial creation. If we do not move with the dynamics of art, which always renews thought and the way of living, we could also be subjugated by artificial intelligence. If we input into artificial intelligence the system of eliminating the other, we lead our intelligence to kill us; instead, we must bring to AI the intelligence of creation and development toward a new invention that replaces the tradition of animal domination. Artificial intelligence is the result of using prostheses for which, however, we become totally responsible. We cannot say that we enjoy their benefits without knowing how to maneuver them; we must know why we arrived at this prosthesis, know what advantages it brings us compared to nature, assuming the relative ethical responsibility and giving meaning to what is produced. The ability to create becomes responsibility.

Let us try to consider Cittadellarte a living organism. Which part do you feel is currently the most fragile? And which part is more mature than you would have imagined?
The fragility consists in nourishment, but it is no longer like in the time of primitive humans who nourished themselves on nature. By now, nourishment has developed with a system of economic exchange; we no longer live merely as farmers and hunters; there are thousands of different ways to produce sustenance, including through the development of new methods. Therefore, nourishment today is given by a currency of exchange: we are no longer at bartering between human beings; now we are even at the most incredible speculation of labor time, where the economy is no longer characterized by an exchange of real products through a real currency. An idea of currency now exists that is no longer referred to the practical world, but invented and used in an impalpable and artificial world. Thus, the human control of artifact becomes indispensable, precisely by returning to consider the methods of economics and exchange. The possibility of escaping physical weakness today leads us to an artifact that becomes like an opposing nature that dominates human beings, preventing them from having control over the artifact itself. What was the javelin, which we used as a prosthesis on nature, is acquiring power and turning back against ourselves. What is the strength we develop so as not to be pierced by the artificial javelin? It is the new balance that art assumes as a necessity. We must understand that within the human being lies the agility of an artistic thought that, through knowledge, has led us to an extreme responsibility. We must assume this responsibility. We created the Formula of Creation, and it must be used in such a way that, through the three ropes of the braid, everyone assumes responsibility in creating common government and we do not continue with the government of oppression toward the other, but rather of co-creation of social legislation. The most mature part at Cittadellarte is the conception of balance as that which we are realizing, for example, in the union of religions, sciences, and enterprises, with a core method that we call Demopraxy. The latter is no longer conceived according to the ideal that every person can have the same voice in a common government, but according to the trinamique formula of the three circles, it is always duality that allows active participation in a shared government. In common life, no one is alone; we all work in groups across different sectors of society, from crafts to industry to agricultural sectors, starting with the couple and the family. Even two people who want to live together must organize themselves by creating a small government. Duality develops that possibility of finding in the central rope the way to make it act according to common practical needs. This is the practice that Cittadellarte proposes.

We live in a time where we are daily exposed to images of extreme pain, yet we often remain motionless. What kind of emotion is indifference? If indifference were a work of art, would you destroy it like a breaking of Pistoletto's mirror?
The breaking of the mirror is a phenomenological operation; it is not purely emotional. The mirror has led to an infinite vision of existing reality as a work of art. Thus, it led to seeing everything that exists in space and time and having it right in front of all of us. But let us be careful: I did not want to transpose all of reality into the mirror just to make it virtual, but to make it clear that what we see in the mirror is the physicality standing in front of it. It is not all virtual: the mirror gives the virtual vision of the real. And where is the real in the mirror painting? In the physicality of the material I used, namely the physical mirroring material, so smooth that, not having lost its own representation, it becomes the representation of everything. But the mirror is a material. Therefore, by shattering the mirror, I wanted to make it clear that what we see in front of us is the virtual part of our thought, which is nevertheless part of our physical body and allows mirroring. So the mirror, by shattering, proves to be physical as well, not just virtual. It is not merely a matter of thinking that emotion is more important than reason: I made a gesture that seems strongly emotional, but it is done with extreme reason. So for me, this work led to rediscovering the balance between the physical and the virtual, between emotion and reason. We think that every piece of mirror is a part of the great mirror; thus, every physical and virtual human being is a person of society and mirrors all others — there is a continuous mirroring. This great mirror of existence gathers all of us together in the frame of the broken mirror. As far as indifference is concerned, it is certainly caused by a condition of mental staticity, an inability to assume responsibility. For me, it is one of the worst situations that people unfortunately experience: when they realize they do not have the power to act and see that oppressive situations are so powerful that they seem to have no alternative, they think "oh well, there is nothing left to do." To these people I say: you are right, we all have the impression of having reached an extreme point that will lead us to humanity's ground zero, so asserting that there is nothing left to do can be a condition, but doing nothing is even worse. It means assuming the role of renouncing the human, which goes directly against the human. Indifference is as guilty as the worst part, if not more.

In the dominant and media narrative of conflicts, numbers often replace faces. What responsibility does art have in restoring humanity where political language erases it? Can art reactivate empathy without falling into the spectacularization of pain? Let us also keep in mind that the word of the year 2025, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is "Rage Bait", which indicates content created to provoke anger and indignation, particularly on social media.
To answer, I refer to the handprint in the cave. It was discovered that our hand is not just a physical reality, because the footprint we left on the surface of the cave is the same hand that became virtual. It is still there today, on that same rock face in the cave, while the real, physical hand died shortly after, in a mere instant in the duration of history. Virtuality is something that survives us. Therefore, we must ensure that even the virtual part, which seems not to be human, is the expression of that virtuality we already left on the cave wall, which resists the physicality of the human being. I see it as transposition into algorithms, reduced to just two: zero and one. In the mirror painting, the zero — the image of the mirror — contains all images: zero and one, meaning everything. So the mirror painting is the phenomenological algorithm. Thus, the capacity to transform the mirror into algorithms means that man penetrates the universe even while alive: I am already surviving in the technological, artistic, and scientific universe. I want to be immortal while alive, and I am! Because all of humanity works so that I can have, through the development of art and science, the possibility of bringing together our mental being and our collective responsibility. In this way, I feel I am in a vast universe, as if in a common soul.

When you turn off the lights of your office, what emotion remains lit?
I never turn off the lights of my office, because I work both when I sleep and during my waking hours. Everything I elaborate during the day seemingly falls asleep in my need to step away from physical practice, since resting is as important as eating — it is one of the forms of nourishment. In rest, however, my mind, my brain, my technological system, my artificial intelligence, surpass all places of existence, all languages, all times, and continue to work with extraordinary speed; at the end of the night — usually between 4 and 6 AM — a proposal, a vision is born, which was elaborated not by me thinking, but by me sleeping. This technological world of sleep is like artificial intelligence; it has a terrifying speed. Every morning I wake up with the opportunity to highlight and bring to reality what is proposed to me in the passage between night and day. If I did not fix what I thought and trace it out, I would lose it: I would wake up in the morning as if nothing had ever happened. Therefore, no moment of stasis exists, not for the brain. The light is always on. But one must still know how to rest, and also engage in movement, do sports, because the body demands it, just as the spirit does. Having the opportunity to be free and creative, there is no one deciding for me what I should do with my thought. Ever since the time of slaves, there has always been someone thinking for others; even great thinkers and dreamers claimed to have seen God or fairies in their sleep... Well, I am sure they saw them, but because their imagination produced them and they were then able to grasp that transition. They are people who overcame the power of nature with the cultural prosthesis of art — a dynamic ability to constantly produce new prostheses. This is not an individual miracle; these are the various possibilities of life that allow, case by case, the development of situations like the ones I am talking about. School, in this regard, is fundamental: just as it is important to do gymnastics exercises for sports, exercises are needed to make the brain work. The school of Cittadellarte serves this purpose. And it is a school for everyone. Any trade is important, but we must ensure that everyone has the same capacity to develop thought, even while working the most humble jobs: this is the common power that we then develop through demopraxy.