The dining table of cultures

"Understanding and accepting the Other is the most threatening dare that recent history challenges us", says Angela Vettese, editor of this book. Michelangelo Pistoletto picks up this dare and shows us six "dining tables of cultures", projected thinking at the form of the seas that link different people, landscapes and cultures: from Mediterranean sea to Baltic, from South China sea to Caribbean sea, without forgetting Black and Red sea. If a sea joins, an island can be the setting of a world in which art claims a responsible change in society: in San Servolo island near Venice, the italian artist presented Cittadellarte, some installations that show a different social structure in politics, communication, works, economics and so on. Even the book's construction reflects Pistoletto's sensibility towards nature: every page, included cover, are made of aluminium. Some of these are punched and, like open doors, show the concepts on which is based the new civilization pushed by Cittadellarte.