From Arteb programmata to Arte Povera. The debuts of Germano Celant (1965-1967)

Abstract

The article aims to illustrate the theoretical and critical path of Germano Celant between 1965 and 1967, showing how his early interest in Arte programmata played a key role in the subsequent theorization of Arte povera. The essay, in particular, focuses on a detailed reconstruction of the beginnings of Celant as a supporter of Arte programmata research and on the different stages that – in connection with the great cultural changes of the second half of the decade – marked his gradual estrangement from those experiences. Therefore, the ideas that Celant developed at the end of 1967 are here connected to this little-known critical and theoretical path, showing the several elements of continuity and discontinuity that – expecially from an ideological point of view – link the theorization of Arte povera to his previous interest in Arte programmata. In other words, the purpose of the article – based on the analysis of specialized magazines, exhibition catalogues and archive documents – is to offer a new interpretive model to (re)read the Arte povera genesis, (re)connecting its birth (also) to the extremely wide, varied and complex context of the Italian artistic and cultural scene of the Sixties.