OSTEN ART Skopje, an Institution of Culture for Museum and Gallery Activities from North Macedonia presented Pistoletto’s works at the 8th Art Thessaloniki 2025 (15-18 May) as a museum project. Subsequently, Pistoletto was announced as honored artist and in collaboration with WAVA he was granted “El GRECO Award for Lifetime Achievement”. On behalf of the organizers Art Thessaloniki and WAVA, the prize was presented by Kornelija Koneska, the Executive Director, and Micko Jankulovski, the President of OSTEN ART Skopje. 

Earlier this year (6 Feb. - 9 Mar. 2025), as the receiver of the Grand Prix for Lifetime Achievement at the OSTEN Biennial of Contemporary Visual Arts Skopje 2024, the master was presented at the National Gallery of North Macedonia in Skopje with his works "Self-portrait through others", “I’m the Robot and the Robot is me”, and presentation video of Cittadellarte. 

Complimentary with these awards, the artist was also awarded the symbolic title of OSTEN Ambassador, an honor bestowed over the years on major international art figures such as Marina Abramović, Christo, Joseph Kosuth, Pierre Soulages, Tony Cragg, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov… This international recognition celebrates the artist's journey in combining art, ethics, and social transformation. 

An intimate and meaningful moment of sharing enlivened the spaces of Cittadellarte last Monday. The ceremony was held in a small gathering, attended by collaborators, employees, and friends of the Foundation. "It is an honor for us to present this award right here, where your vision of art as a driver of social transformation takes shape", said Kornelija Koneska in her speech, noting that Pistoletto's work has been an international benchmark for years and the award is aimed to figures who have left a lasting mark on the contemporary art scene. 

During the award ceremony, the Macedonian curator emphasized: "Your art is exceptional, but what makes it unique is your dedication to society and community development, not just locally but globally. This is what led us to recognize your work as 'advancing life,' not just art".

In addition, in an interview with us after the ceremony, Koneska spoke about her curatorial work: "Every two years, we organize the OSTEN Biennial of Contemporary Visual Arts Skopje, an event that for over half a century has promoted a critical and international dialogue recognizing the drawing as a basis of every art. The selection is always multidimensional: we welcome hybrid languages and experiments that use drawing as a trace of thought, as a gesture that connects humans with the world". Referring to Pistoletto's work, she added: "We recognized in him not only a master of contemporary art, but an ethical guide. Art, in his case, is not just aesthetics: it is vision, method, responsibility". During the meeting, Koneska recalled that a selection of her works was recently exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, as well as at Art Thessaloniki 2025, where "thousands of visitors were able to experience the vision of the Pistoletto Foundation".

The maestro accepted the award with gratitude, sharing it with the collective journey he and Cittadellarte have built: "This award is not just for me, but for everything we are building. It's important to communicate that art can generate change; it can be the place where freedom and responsibility meet". He added: "The artist is the one who experiences freedom more than anyone else, but precisely for this reason, he or she has the responsibility to transform it into something that unites, that brings balance. Art has become responsible". 

This dual recognition—international and human—confirms the significance of Michelangelo Pistoletto's work and Cittadellarte's mission: to make art an active practice, capable of generating awareness, community, and transformation.