ART POVERA

SAKSHI VIKAS PIMPALKAR

T.Y. B.ARCH
DIV- B
IN A NUTSHELL
Arte Povera - the Italian phrase for "poor
art" or "impoverished art" - was one of the
most significant and influential avant-garde
movements to emerge in Southern Europe in
the late 1960s. It included the work of around a
dozen Italian artists whose most distinctly
recognizable trait was their use of
commonplace materials that evoked a pre-
industrial age, such as earth, rocks, clothing,
paper and rope: literally 'poor' or cheap
materials that they repurposed for their
practice. These practices presented a challenge
to established notions of value and propriety, as
well as subtly critiquing the industrialization and
mechanization of Italy at the time.
Key figures closely associated with the
movement are Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero
Boetti, Enrico Castellani, Pier Paolo
Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis
Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio
Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe
Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini,
and Gilberto Zorio.
CONCEPT
• A return to simple objects and
messages
• The body and behaviour are art
• The everyday becomes meaningful
• Traces of nature and industry appear
• Dynamism and energy are embodied
in the work
• Nature can be documented in its
physical and chemical transformation
• Explore the notion of space and
language
• Complex and symbolic signs lose
meaning
• Ground Zero, no culture, no art
system, Art = Life
MATERIALS
Artists employed a vast array of
raw materials, such as rags, hessian
sacks, coal, sand, soil, wood, seeds
and vegetables, as well as
manufactured items such as glass and
metal. These materials were hung,
framed or applied to walls, metal
sheets, or various surfaces. Artists
typically made no attempt to change
the natural colours of the materials.
However, the 'poor' or 'worthless'
nature of these materials should not
be overestimated. Many works used
very expensive items, and were
displayed in some of the finest
venues.
EXAMPLE
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein was built by
the Swiss architects Meinrad Morger and Heinrich
Degelo, along with Christian Kerez. Together they
have created a museum building of great structural
complexity and discreet simplicity. The closed form is
a "black box" of tinted concrete and black basalt stone.
River pebbles embedded in the building's exterior
provide a subtle coloration, forming a link to the
landscape of the Rhine Valley. The hand-carved
surface of the facade invites touching, and reflects the
surroundings. Long rows of windows open the black
cube to both inside and outside.
Thus they created a structure using raw materials
that could be easily available at cheap rates.
SEM 5 AD
THE DESIGN OF
CULTURAL HUB
THAT I DESIGNED
FOR THE SEMESTER
5 IS RELATED TO
THE ART POVERA
BECAUSE I USED THE
RAW MATERIAL
THAT WAS EASILY
AVAILABLE TO THE
SITE SUCH AS BRICK ,
BAMBOO, BAMBOO
PLY AND MAJOR
MATERIAL IS
BETUNG BAMBOO
THAT I USED FOR
ROOFING OF THE
INFORMAL MARKET