Michelangelo @ Palazzo Boncompagni

Sorry … that’s not Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarrati Simoni … of the Sistine Chapel fame! Rather, it is Michelangelo Pistoletto … of the Love Difference fame.

After our morning outing … and a bit of a rest, this afternoon we went to Palazzo Boncompagni, which was the home of Pope Gregorio XIII … from his birth until he was installed on the papal throne in 1572. Today, owned by the Benelli family since the 19th century, the palace serves as a host for contemporary art exhibitions and cultural events, while at the same time the family continues to restore parts of the building.

The exhibition we saw at the palace today is a retrospective entitled “Michelangelo Pistoletto. From Cittadellarte to Statodellarte” … or From the City of Art to the State of Art.

The City of Art referenced here is a civic laboratory, if you will, founded by Pistoletto in his birthplace of Biella … in the Italian Alps. The idea behind his concept is to show how creativity connects with all sectors of society.

The tour is guided … which helps to explain the pieces that are a result of over 60 years of research into the relationship between art, society, and politics. The tours are in Italian only. So, we used the “live translation” feature of our AirPods Pro (Gen 3) … which worked out OK once we acclimated to the inherent delay. Since he speaks and understands Italian, Mui definitely got more out of the tour. I managed to get the gist of things and supplemented it with some additional research once we got home.

The highlight of the exhibition is “Tavolo Love Difference” (Love Difference Table). An interesting work of art that is temporarily installed in the equally interesting setting of the Sala del Papa (the Pope’s Audience Hall). It consists of an oversized mirrored table shaped like the Mediterranean. The chairs around it are from the countries that border the Med.

The piece serves as the symbol of the Love Difference movement … an “Artistic Movement for an InterMediterranean Policy, founded by Pistoletto in 2002 and presented at the Venice Biennale in 2003, when the artist received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.”

Our tour concluded with “Mirror of Eternity” … an interactive installation … explained as follows: “… bridges physical and virtual realities by inviting visitors to upload their own portraits, which are then fused by artificial intelligence with those of other participants. The result is a continuously evolving display of entirely new, virtual faces that echo the generative logic of nature. This digital artwork—designed in collaboration with DMINTI—serves as an exploration of digital immortality and collective memory, allowing an individual's legacy to persist and spawn new artistic life long after they are gone.”

We had fun participating in the installation … the result (with magnification of a small section that I created) is included in the photos attached to this footprint.

Pistoletto’s work has piqued our curiosity … so, if we find ourselves in the area, we just might visit the City of Art in Biella.

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Card Cultura Update: With today’s €3 discount, I am now €7 ahead of the game and Mui is €4 ahead. What that means is that for €25 each, I have visited €32 worth of sites; Mui €29 worth of sites.Read more