Gilberto Zorio

Gilberto Zorio (Andorno Micca, 1944) treats sculpture as an active system rather than a finished object. A central figure of Arte Povera, since the late 1960s he has used acids, copper sulphate, sulphur, iron, terracotta, leather, glass, electricity and sound to place matter within unstable processes. Evaporation, oxidation, pressure, heat and chemical reaction are not hidden stages of fabrication: they become the work itself.

This archive gathers articles, exhibitions and critical readings of Zorio’s practice, from Tenda and Odio to his recurring stars, javelins, canoes, microphones and Per purificare le parole. These archetypal forms connect the human body with movement, navigation, speech and the cosmos. Zorio’s art may initially appear symbolic, but it remains rooted in concrete forces: a liquid changes colour, metal conducts energy and a word becomes breath and sound. Sculpture exists while energy passes through it; every apparently stable form is only one moment within a longer transformation.