M HKA Ensembles

Installation, 250 x 1995 x 1351 cm.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK7470_M325).

We are facing an open construction. It is a labyrinth, but also a clean-cut spatial structure. As we enter Uffizi Porte twelve doors lead us to a succession of new rooms. The different spaces all refer to an office where a well-defined activity is performed. These offices are no imaginary constructions. In 1994 Pistoletto launches his art manifesto, Progetto Arte [Project Art], which places social transformation in the centre of attention for art, artists and those politically responsible. The manifesto led to the establishment of Cittadellarte, a large workshop where different segments of society can come together, through creativity, in exhibitions, debates, concerts, performances. As with natural processes, the ‘Cittadelarte cell’ has been divided into several cells or offices that work in certain sub-segment of society. The cells work independently but form an organism together. The open structure of Uffizi Porte underlines this symbiosis. This term refers to offices during the Italian Renaissance, such as the banking office of the Medici family, where the economy, art, philosophy, politics and other aspects of society were amalgamated. Or we might remember the studios of Renaissance artists, where science, production and the economy joined forces with visual creation, thinking and spirituality. The use of doors is not insignificant. Pistoletto regards his works not as windows unto reality but precisely as doors through which we enter the real world.