Pistoletto: Celebration of art and nature, Art Biennale Venice 2019

Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933) in 1968 had announced his hymn to nature in a performance. Today May 7, in occasion of the Venice Art Biennale, anxious intrepid spectators, almost on tiptoe, have reached the top of a bridge to relive with joy that greeting, today sadly current. He is the genius of the artist Pistoletto: he was at the forefront then and finds himself a prophet – still today.
The artist at the service of the cause invokes the salvation of nature and invites all of us to greet her by thanking her and encouraging her to survive despite ourselves. We applaud, despite everything making noise again, once again our presence will be known to her, which instead serves us in silence or with roars. She will survive not only in spite of us, but also without us. Because in last resort, we, the humans, will die, while, again, she will become a different monster, burning surface or oxygen-free earth. Unless the earth implodes, as I think.
The artist was present / absent. We were invited to walk towards the foundation. All of us with hesitation. The urge to walk towards the bridge, it seemed a tacit invitation to climb the stairs. Then I exclaimed “we, we are the performance!”. And so it was. We were asked to take a selfie with the sea in the background and share it as a tweet # tonature; then to turn towards the sea and all together to applaud it.
It was a touching moment of unity. We laughed. We felt legitimized in our being-us, partakers. We are tied in this solidarity act. Magnificent Pistoletto, having orchestrated the action and having at the same time orchestrated a moment of solidarity. We believed that we would meet him. We received his message as an arrow directly into our hearts.
Pistoletto’s commitment is not only an artistic gesture, casual or occasional, but it is a true act of love for nature. In 2003, Pistoletto wrote the manifesto Terzo Paradiso in the light of his own artistic philosophy of the complete and all-inclusive work, the Gesamtkunstwerk. From 2004 to today through collaborations with individuals, associations, organizations and institutions active not only in the artistic sphere but in the most diverse areas of society, particularly in the context of the search for a sustainable life model, Pistoletto promotes laboratories and public books and posters.