"Piero Manzoni: Total Space" conquers New York: a groundbreaking exhibition at Magazzino Italian Art

The exhibition "Piero Manzoni: Total Space," opening on September 8, 2025, at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, New York, represents a milestone in the global reappraisal of Manzoni's radical genius. For the first time in the United States, the public can immerse themselves in two visionary environments conceived by the artist in 1961 and recently realized thanks to the Piero Manzoni Foundation and the Hauser & Wirth Gallery. The exhibition marks a turning point in international museography, thanks to the faithful reconstruction of the "Hairy Room" (Stanza pelosa) and the "Phosphorescent Room,"(Stanza fosforescente)  installations designed to envelop the visitor and catapult them into the beating heart of Manzoni's research on perception, space, and the active role of the spectator in contemporary art.

These two works overturn the traditional concept of painting, taking the logic of the "Achromes" to the extreme. These masterpieces, in which white and material—from kaolin to synthetic fibers, from cotton wool to fur—eliminate any trace of subjective expression, opening up to pure physical presence, transcend the pictorial surface. Manzoni sought to transcend the pictorial surface to offer an all-encompassing, three-dimensional space, where the viewer becomes an integral part of the creation, not just a mere observer. In these environments, aesthetic perception becomes epidermal: the Hairy Room invites tactile contact, a sense of enveloping disorientation, while the Phosphorescent Room immerses us in spectral atmospheres, where light and the body combine in continuous optical illusions.

The initiative by Magazzino Italian Art, curated by Nicola Lucchi, is one of the highlights of New York's cultural autumn. In addition to the two environmental installations, the exhibition offers an overview of Manzoni's work, showcasing a selection of historic "Achromes," including one of the first versions from 1958. The works on loan from American collections, combined with this important permanent gift, consolidate the museum as an international reference for the understanding, conservation, and dissemination of postwar Italian art. The project involves prominent figures such as Rosalia Pasqualino di Marineo (Fondazione Manzoni) and the founders of Magazzino, Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, both of whom are deeply committed to supporting the Italian avant-garde.

The history of these installations is emblematic: long left only on paper, they were materialized for the first time in Los Angeles in 2019 by architect Stephanie Goto, in a collaboration that sparked renewed interest in Manzoni's legacy in the United States. Their permanent arrival at the Magazzino not only allows for the study of their details and the preservation of their memory, but also offers viewers an unprecedented emotional and sensorial experience. Many scholars emphasize how Manzoni's radicalism acted as a catalyst for Arte Povera, anticipating the dematerialization of the object, the centrality of the idea, and the work as action and a site of critical experimentation.

It is no coincidence that the exhibition is located in Magazzino, the epicenter of the narrative of late twentieth-century Italian art in America. The permanent collection, informed by dialogues between historic and contemporary artists, creates an ideal breeding ground for innovative and disruptive artistic practices. Here, visitors are invited to engage, abandoning traditional expectations associated with viewing a painting or sculpture: the body, the skin, and the gaze are called upon to engage in an active experience, as Manzoni desired more than sixty years ago.

Magazzino Art's director, Adam Sheffer, emphasized that "Piero Manzoni was one of the most innovative and ironic artists on the international scene, and these works testify to his tireless inventive spirit." Through the exhibition, Manzoni's manifesto-insights, such as the famous Lines, the celebrated cans of Artist's Shit, and the balloons inflated with his breath, reconstruct his conceptual irony and his challenge to the sacralization of the market and the artist. Visitors are projected into a journey of continuous redefinition of meaning, which goes far beyond simple aesthetic enjoyment.

The "Hairy Room" and the "Phosphorescent Room" also mark the triumph of an idea of ​​art that engages all the senses and invites participation. Their presence at Magazzino Italian Art is not only a tribute to Manzoni's genius, but also a message about the importance of continuity and research in the artistic field, breaking down the boundaries between disciplines and revealing new perspectives for the future. The dialogue with the Arte Povera collection and the reflections on corporeality and dematerialization highlight the tensions that continue to fuel the debate on contemporary art.

The exhibition, open until March 23, 2026, provides a platform for questioning the role of the artist, the museum, and the spectator in a rapidly evolving society. The event aims to be an all-encompassing experience, in which time, space, and matter merge into a unique experience, capable of leaving a profound mark on those who experience it.

Manzoni, with his radicalism, still invites us today to rethink art as a place of encounter, questioning, and infinite possibility, reaffirming physical space as the starting and finishing point of all creative reflection.