Michelangelo Pistoletto
The Third Paradise
2003
"What is the Third paradise? It is the fusion between the first and the second paradise.
The first is the paradise in which terrestrial life is completely regulated by nature’s intelligence.
The second is an Artificial Paradise; that which is developed by human intellect via a very slow process, which in the last few centuries has reached increasingly invasive dimensions.
This paradise is made up of artificial needs, artificial commodities, artificial pleasures, and of every other form of artificiality. A world that is completely and utterly artificial has been created, which continues to grow, consuming and deteriorating the natural planet. The danger of a tragic collision between these two spheres is by now very obvious.
Along side the universal need for the survival of the human species, the global project of the Third paradise is conceived, which consists in leading everything that is artificial; that is science and technology together with art; to give back life to Earth.
This can only happen through an evolutionary step, in which human intelligence finds a way to develop a responsible creativity to co-inhabit with nature’s intelligence.The Third paradise is the new goal that leads everyone to take on personal responsibility in this revolutionary passage.
Biblical references are not intended in a religious sense, but are used to give meaning and strength to the concept of responsible social transformation, and to motivate a great ideal, which in a single step unites the arts, the sciences, the economy, spirituality and politics”.