“In 31 steps, this book leads from the genesis of my work to the genesis of the Universe, and at the same time to the genesis of a new society”. With these words Michelangelo Pistoletto anticipated part of the contents of The Formula of Creation. In the book, published by Cittadellarte and edited by Chiara Belliti and Ruggero Poi (purchasable here), the Biellese artist recounts in 31 steps the human and artistic path that led him to define the formula of creation, which he himself also called the formula of life. The book retraces, step by step, the path that human beings have travelled in creating religion, politics, science and the cultures of society thanks to the germinal enzyme of art. Page by page, Pistoletto explains how to face the epochal passage that humanity is experiencing, engulfed by the general crisis of the systems it has created. With the Formula of Creation, Michelangelo Pistoletto offers us the opportunity to reconsider the cornerstones of our existence and calls us to a new responsibility towards ourselves, each other and nature, of which we are a part. It is a book that turns over a new leaf. Through the book’s development, the universal rule identified in the Formula of Creation becomes applicable in every moment of our daily life. It is a call to use the Formula of Creation to become co-authors of a new society.

After it was released on the last 21 December, on the occasion of the Rebirth Day, and the participation on 29 January in the television programme Che tempo che fa on Rai 3 hosted by Fabio Fazio, the Italian tour has begun, and it is taking Michelangelo Pistoletto around the country to talk about the book with speakers and moderators from various spheres of the social fabric. The first leg of the tour was held on 22 February at the Mantua Territorial Hub of Milan’s Polytechnic, where the founder of Cittadellarte illustrated the peculiarities of his work with Fortunato D’Amico. The next one is scheduled for 15 March in Rome, with a double appointment: at Rome’s Academy of Fine Arts Pistoletto will dialogue with Cecilia Casorati, and at Palazzo delle Esposizioni with Franco Bernabè. From the capital he will then move on to Milan, where, on 23 March, the artist will present the book at the National Museum of Science and Technology with Guido Tonelli and Fiorenzo Galli. A week later it will be Turin’s turn, with a conference at the Egyptian Museum, where the debate will be with Christian Greco. On 19 April, Pistoletto will be in dialogue with Telmo Pievani at the Orto Botanico 1545 at the University of Padua. May will be a month full of events: on 21 at the Fondazione Filiberto e Bianca Menna in Salerno with Maria Letizia Magaldi and Ermete Realacci; on 22 in Naples at the Città della Scienza with Guido Tonelli and at Foqus – Fondazione Quartieri Spagnoli with Rachele Furfaro and Luca Trapanese; and on 31 at the Teatro Comunale Laura Betti in Casalecchio di Reno (BO) with Alessandro Bergonzoni. The last date announced so far is in Palermo, on 9 June, at Palazzo Reale with Alberto Fiz.
The details of the various appointments, always with free admission but subject to availability, will be published a few days in advance; the tour will resume after June with new events yet to be scheduled.