“Spazio Libero is a free space inside a prison,” explains the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, “a mental space, a behavioral space, a virtual space that implies the concept of freedom of thought, which is the truest possession of liberty.” He is referring to a monumental installation that he conceived in 1976, and finally realized in 1999 with help from inmates of San Vittore Prison. Spazio Libero is a cage, and inside it the space is sacred and must not be violated. At Lévy Gorvy, The Free Space (Pistoletto’s first English version, fabricated in 2020) is on view on the second floor. The first floor features works that span six decades of Pistoletto’s practice, from his beginnings in Italy’s Arte Povera movement, to his more recent experimentation with mirrors in Color and Light (2016–17). —E.C.

Michelangelo Pistoletto
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Lévy Gorvy Gallery / New York / Art
Lévy Gorvy Gallery / New York / Art
Michelangelo Pistoletto, “Color and Light,” 2016 © Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua.
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