Michelangelo Pistoletto, born in Biella in 1933, is a central figure in Arte Povera and contemporary Italian art. In the early 1960s he developed his Mirror Paintings, works that incorporate the viewer and real time, followed by the Minus Objects, which proved fundamental to the movement’s emergence. His practice spans painting, sculpture, installation and participatory work. In the 1990s he founded Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, bringing art into active dialogue with society. He received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2003.