Reversing the Eye

The exhibition Reversing the Eye – Photography, Film and Video in the Years of Arte Povera investigates the relationship of arte povera and certain avant-garde movements in Italy between the 1960s and 1970s with photography, film and video. In response to American Pop Art and in conjunction with the activities of the protagonists of the international conceptual scene, arte povera aspired to the encounter between art and life. Although rarely associated with this trend, photography, film and video were in fact widely used by its exponents and can thus be counted among the “poor” media.
The exhibition, which brings together more than 250 works by 49 artists, is divided into a chronological path and is traversed by four thematic strands: Body, Experience, Image and Theater. In addition to the protagonists of the movement, the exhibition gives space to the work of other artists – particularly photographers such as Elisabetta Catalano, Mario Cresci, Luigi Ghirri, Mimmo Jodice, and Ugo Mulas – who exhibited with them or by whom they were influenced in a decisive way.