A multitude of themes are touched on in Arte Povera, but one of the most contextually relevant themes to the time was
politics. 'We are already in the midst of a guerilla war' ends Celant in his 1967 manifesto, hinting both to the war in Vietnam as well as the war against traditional notions of artistic practice. The war in Vietnam and America's involvement was an important influence into the student protests that were occurring in Italy during the 1960's, as well as art that was being produced at the time. Not only was there a war in Asia, but terrorism in Italy began to occur, with the leader of the Christian Party being assassinated. All of these contextual factors are reasons why Celant wanted artists to be 'guerilla warriors' and to bring art into life and life into art.
Emilio Prini's
USA USA from 1969 consisted of a tape that recorded its own sound endlessly until the recorder itself broke. This is symbolic of the endless consumerist culture that came to define America, and the play on words in the title 'USA USA' (usa meaning uses in Italian) shows an almost bitterness to the way the USA treats the rest of the world. These negative feelings towards America that many Italian's had after the war were pushed further when the Vietnam war began.
Pino Pascali created realistic looking artillery out of scraps that he found, re-using discarded material that is born out of consumerism. These guns and weapons feel extremely realistic, but Pascali himself enjoyed the fact that they played with real and artificial.
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