EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art
09 April 2025 - 01 February 2026
Arte Povera – A New Chapter explores how especially women artists have worked in the spirit of the Arte Povera movement from the 1960s to the present.
The term Arte Povera, literally meaning “poor art”, refers to a movement that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s, when artists began creating works from discarded and modest everyday materials. Their aim was to challenge the art market of the time and bring artistic practice closer to daily life. Instead of high-quality materials and polished aesthetics, the artworks often emphasise the processes of making, intentional unfinishedness, and immediacy.
Although Arte Povera is traditionally regarded as a male-dominated movement, this exhibition focuses on the transgenerational role of women in shaping and establishing it as part of international contemporary art. The featured artists merge Arte Povera’s unassuming materiality with critique of societal structures and timeless questions of identity.
By presenting original members of Arte Povera alongside their international peers and contemporary artists, the exhibition broadens the art historical narrative of this significant movement.