“Taobuk is pleased to announce the conferment of the Taobuk Award to Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian painter and sculptor, considered one of the major protagonists of the world’s art scene of our time”: this message, quoted in a post on the Facebook page of the literary festival, declared the Biellese artist as the winner of the prestigious award. As reported by the organisers, the Taobuk Awards are conferred every year to high profile personalities from the literary, artistic and civil worlds; with this in mind, since 2014, the International Award for Literary Excellence and the Lifetime Achievement Award have constituted a Golden Roll of acknowledgements that celebrate very special stories and experiences. Pistoletto will be officially presented with the award on Saturday 19th June in Taormina, at 6 pm, at Palazzo Ciampoli, in the context of the Taormina Book Festival (scheduled from 17th to 21st June) “for his extraordinary career and inexhaustible artistic research with particular attention to his most recent inspiration, the one linked to the Third Paradise project”.
For the occasion, the founder of Cittadellarte will give a speech entitled In the post-pandemic world, a new balance between man and nature: the Third Paradise, which will deal with several themes: from his experience of ’emptiness’ in relation to the pandemic (see our previous interview) to the trinamic symbol, with a focus on the third phase of humanity, characterised by a balanced connection between nature and artifice. The talk will be in the form of a dialogue between Pistoletto and Roberta Scorranese of Corriere della Sera. “The Taobuk Award 2021 goes to Michelangelo Pistoletto – said Antonella Ferrara, founder and artistic director of the Taormina Book Festival – for reminding us, at the height of his bright career, that we must look to a new level of planetary civilization, essential to ensure mankind’s survival”.
