For the first time, Jeu de Paume and LE BAL collaborate to present a spectacular exhibition dedicated to arte povera and featuring the full spectrum of media including video, sculpture, film, photography and work on paper.

Some of the names included in the show are Marisa Merz,Gino de Domenicis, Luigi Ghirri, Piero Manzoni, Ugo Mulas and many more. The exhibition remains on view until 29th January 2023 so make sure to catch it if you are in Paris.

The exhibition centres around the arte povera group, and explores this unique art movement born in Turin, Italy, which pioneered new meanings in photography and the moving image across the 1960s and 1970s.

The title of the exhibition, “Reversing the eye”, is a wonderful reference to the eponymous work by Giuseppe Penone, Rovesciare i propri occhi, of which various incarnations are presented in the exhibition. These piercing eyes are fantastic!

This exhibition shows the extraordinary breadth of Italian artists appropriating the medium of photography, video and film in reaction of the 1960s American Pop Art movement. From Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s mirror paintings to Giulio Paolini‘s and Giovanni Anselmo’s large-scale photographs on canvas, from Alighiero Boetti’s photocopied works to Franco Vaccari’s photomatons or Luciano Giaccari’s performance videos, the show provides a panorama of the visual experiments of the Italian avant-garde of the period.

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Images: Giuseppe Penone, 1970, Rovesciare i propri occhi – progetto [Reversing One’s Eyes – project]
Photocollage of black and white, selenium-tinted
gelatinsilver prints on baryta paper
© Archivio Penone / Adagp, Paris, 2022

Mimmo Jodice, 1978, Vera fotografia [True Photography]
Gelatin silver-bromide print on baryta paper, with writing in pen by the artist
Courtesy Galerie Karsten Greve St. Moritz, Cologne, Paris
© Mimmo Jodice