“New thinking must inspire the economy and politics. The formative place for this thinking can be the creative workshop of socially engaged art. Civil society thus becomes the new plastic material to be modelled in the structural clash between diversity and standardisation”. With these words, Michelangelo Pistoletto has identified the key themes of Artivation for a responsible social transformation, his new exhibition opening today at the Centre for Openness and Dialogue (COD) in Albania. Spreading over the entire space of the COD, the exhibition recounts art as an expression of the premise of the artist taking upon himself the responsibility of bringing into communication every human activity, from economics to politics, from science to religion, from education to behaviour, in short all the instances of the social fabric. Curated by Cittadellarte and presented by the Centre for Openness and Dialogue and the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana, the exhibition is divided into four rooms and eight steps: Love Difference, Mirror Paintings, Cosmology, Ecology, Mythology, Nourishment,Writing and Metaverse. Specifically, the exhibition traces the guidelines of Project Art through the artist’s works, and the birth and development of Cittadellarte and the Third Paradise on the concept of a ‘global civilisation’ that eliminates distances while maintaining differences.

The selection of works emphasises the role of the ‘artivator’ and ‘artivation’- a term coined by the Pistoletto Foundation that combines two words: ‘art’ and ‘activation’- and represents the idea of using art as an active tool to stimulate, involve and activate social change. “This approach,” reads the dedicated press note, “goes beyond artistic expression, encouraging artists and people working with art to become active agents of transformation through their works and their interactions with society”. As for the behind-the-scenes, Artivation for a Responsible Social Transformation stems from an invitation by the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana, in collaboration with the Pistoletto Foundation and the Centre for Openness and Dialogue (COD), with curatorial and project management by Francesco Saverio Teruzzi and exhibition project management by Alessandro Lacirasella, with the collaboration of Andrea Abate. “The exhibition in Tirana,” specifies the press release,“presents the work of one of the greatest masters of world art: Michelangelo Pistoletto, a relevant figure for both the great artistic value of his works and the message of social transformation, dialogue and acceptance of differences that his art carries”. The free exhibition will run from 22 May to 2 July 2024 at the Centre for Openness and Dialogue (COD).