Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera, 1962-1972

Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera, 1962-1972 focuses on one of the most innovative and influential art movements of the postwar era. Arte Povera came of age in the context of the economic boom of the ''Italian miracle'' and the subsequent student and workers' revolts of 1968. The work of Arte Povera was motivated by an urge to revolt not only against the primary achieved by painting in the postwar period, but also against certain aspects of the emerging consumer culture. This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue provide a highly comprehensive retrospective of the Arte Povera movement as a historical and aesthetic phenomenon that crossed a wide range of disciplines, including sculpture, installation, drawing, and photography as well as film and performance. The exhibition traces Arte Povera's genesis within the artistic, cultural, and political context of Italy to its positioning within the broader international context of postwar artistic practices, a moment marked by the participation of the Arte Povera group in the 1972 Documenta V exhibition in Kassel. This brilliant and crucial new catalogue is designed by the Walker Art Center's award-winning Design Department, and includes a wide range of essays by international scholars and curators, as well as rare historical documentation, in an unprecedented re-examination of the Arte Povera movement.