The Third Paradise

“The Third Paradise is the third phase of humanity, realized as a balanced connection between artifice and nature.”

I feel that this concept is rather relatable especially in modern society, considering the conflicts that we contributed to, yet we are the ones who can maintain a balance.

During the lecture/event, Artist Michelangelo Pistoletto mentioned that he started from the mirror. He wanted to paint a portrait of himself as he saw the mirror as a canvas, but he then realized that he was not alone in his self-portrait. As he used a mirror, it would not only reflect him but people who go into the frame as well. He saw the viewers and audiences’ reflections from the mirror and from a self-portrait, in which his identity was “I”, it became “us”. This was the direction of his vision, whereby the appearance of these people made him reflect and felt that he had to make the artwork for the society.

Knowing that the traditional means of art (e.g. painting) have been gradually taken away by the increase of photography, there was a revolt towards technology for taking away artistic capacity, and hence he felt that he wanted to integrate the society through his mirror and painting. He also called this a discovery rather than a creation of his artwork.

Another interesting concept that he mentioned was when he created his sphere, ball of newspapers. Instead of making a static artwork, he created one that could move. He saw the interaction of the people with his sphere and thought of it as a representation of ‘chance’. This was because everyone was pushing the sphere, but each one of them was pushing it towards their own direction that they wanted it to go towards. To me, this was quite an interesting concept because such a simple idea of just pushing the sphere could represent quite a profound notion. If you further analyze it, you know that only the people who want that chance to push the sphere would fight for their chance to make sure that they get to the sphere. So somehow, it becomes a chance that arrives from a chance.