Sfera di giornali — COMMUNICATION

In 1966 Michelangelo Pistoletto created the Sfera di giornali, a ball of about a meter in diameter made of soaked and pressed newspapers. The Sfera di giornali is one of the Minus Objects, a group of about thirty works realized by Pistoletto between 1965 and 1966 through a process linked to the contingency of time and breaking the dogma by which every work of an artist must be stylistically recognizable, as though it were a standardized trademark. These works were realized in Pistoletto’s studio, where he also lived at the time, and where they were exhibited for the first time in January 1966.

The original iteration of Sfera di giornali was covered in Italian newspapers that highlighted the unrest at that time. In 1967, Pistoletto famously rolled the large ball through the streets of Turin, a literal rendition of the news cycle at the time. It has since been exhibited and featured in public events throughout the world.

MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO
Sfera di giornali
Conceived 1966 / fabricated 2020
Pressed newspapers
Diameter: 39 3/8 inches (100 cm)