Just hours before the opening, scheduled for this evening at 6:00 pm, Palazzo Boncompagni is preparing to welcome Michelangelo Pistoletto. From Cittadellarte to Statodellarte, the exhibition that, from 3 February to 3 June 2026, retraces and reactivates one of the most radical ideas of contemporary art: the recognition of art as an operative force in the transformation of society. Not merely a historical reading of the master’s work, the project places Cittadellarte at its core, presenting it as a permanent laboratory and driving force behind a vision of art understood as a social, political, and civic practice.

Curated by Silvia Evangelisti, the exhibition brings together historical works, documents, installations, and projects spanning more than sixty years of the artist’s research, establishing a dialogue between art, society, and politics. Not a retrospective in the traditional sense, but a living device conceived to activate public debate and discussion throughout the duration of the exhibition, in continuity with the working method developed by Cittadellarte since its founding in 1994.

“Michelangelo Pistoletto has, for over sixty years, put into practice philosophical and experiential approaches that, through art, connect the individual to the collective (1+1=3), radically transforming the very concept of making art,” states the curator. “Through his artistic and social commitment, Pistoletto brings artistic intervention into the field of politics, engaging art—in all its forms—in a social, cultural, and economic enterprise that restores to art a primary role within contemporary society.”

A dialogue rooted in time

The exhibition builds upon the relationship established between Michelangelo Pistoletto and the Bolognese palace in 2021 with Gregory XIII and Michelangelo Pistoletto. From the Renaissance to Rebirth, the exhibition that marked the opening of Palazzo Boncompagni to contemporary art and to the city.

“I am very happy that Michelangelo Pistoletto accepted my invitation, after five years, to create a new exhibition at Palazzo Boncompagni, which I strongly wished for,” says Paola Pizzighini Benelli, President of Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni. “This exhibition includes an iconic work such as Venus of the Rags and traces the journey Pistoletto has undertaken from Cittadellarte to Statodellarte, addressing themes that are central to his work, such as fashion and its sustainable development.”

The heart of the exhibition: the Mediterranean Table

At the core of the project is the return to Bologna, after twenty years, of the Love Difference Table, installed in the Hall of the Papal Audiences. A symbolic work of Love Difference – Artistic Movement for an InterMediterranean Politics, born within Cittadellarte, the large mirrored table shaped like the Mediterranean basin is surrounded by chairs from the countries bordering this sea.

At Palazzo Boncompagni, the reflective surface of the work enters into dialogue with the ceiling frescoes and with the people seated around it, transforming the space into an active site of relationship, exchange, and discussion. The Table is not presented as an object to be contemplated, but as an operative tool for dialogue, fully aligned with Fondazione Pistoletto’s vision of art as relationship and shared responsibility.

Throughout the exhibition period, the Table will host a Public Program consisting of three events that directly reflect the practices of Cittadellarte. Conversations around the Love Difference Table is the title of the series, in which each meeting is structured as a roundtable dedicated to Statodellarte and to specific fields of reflection: Art, spirituality and religion; Ethics, politics and artificial intelligence; Sustainable fashion as cultural and social responsibility.

The works on display: from Arte Povera to Statodellarte

The exhibition itinerary retraces key moments in Pistoletto’s research. From the experience of Lo Zoo (1968–70), a foundational work of Arte Povera, to The Present. Self-Portrait in a Shirt, a work that anticipates the celebrated Mirror Paintings, the central nucleus of his practice.

In dialogue with these works is the Manifesto of the Opening of the Studio to Creative Collaboration (1976), a document that marks the transition from the studio as a private space to a site of sharing and collective production. This shift anticipates the birth of Cittadellarte as a platform for experimentation and as an alternative organizational model capable of transforming creativity into a civic tool.

Along the Loggia are exhibited Dining Table Painting, from the Minus Objects cycle, and a series of works engaging different religious traditions. The rooms adjacent to the Hall of the Papal Audiences host Venus of the Rags (1966), works dedicated to artificial intelligence, and a large unpublished mirror painting depicting a female figure lifting the symbol of the Third Paradise.

In the rooms of the Boncompagnina, scale models, videos, and archival materials recount the birth and evolution of Cittadellarte as a permanent laboratory connecting art, economy, politics, education, and the environment. From this experience emerges the concept of Statodellarte, understood not only as a theoretical reflection, but as a collective artwork in constant evolution and as a possible model of civic-political organization founded on Demopraxis, that is, on art as a shared and participatory practice.

“Statodellarte is a collective artwork in perpetual evolution and a new form of civic-political organization,” states Paolo Naldini, Director of Cittadellarte. “Founded on the Art of Demopraxis and on the Formula of Creation, or Third Paradise, Statodellarte is an open, borderless model that places art at the service of shared responsibility, sustainability, and peaceful coexistence, inviting every individual to act toward reconciliation between humanity and the planet.”

The symbol of the Third Paradise, permanently installed at Palazzo Boncompagni, represents the symbolic fulcrum of the entire project: developed from the mathematical symbol of infinity, it is composed of three circles and points to a possible balance between nature and artifice, recognizing creativity as a shared ethical and social responsibility.

The exhibition concludes with The World Map, which introduces the global dimension of Pistoletto’s research, opening onto an international network of people, communities, and practices that find in Statodellarte a possible shared horizon.

On the eve of the opening, the exhibition thus presents itself not only as a retrospective, but as a temporary device of Cittadellarte, an explicit invitation to rethink the role of art in contemporary society: not representation, but action; not contemplation, but responsibility.