TOURISTS filing through the baroque halls and corridors of Blenheim Palace this week appeared more wide-eyed than usual.

While they marvelled at Sir John Vanbrugh's grand towers, columns and porticoes, the fine murals and tapestries, at every turn they were confronted with something unexpected.

The Great Court is dominated by a temple pediment made of recycled washing machine drums, the Red Drawing Room home to three enormous steel funnels, and visitors to the State Rooms and Chapel are greeted with mountains of rags.

Elsewhere, furniture is tipped upside down – mirrored bases reflecting the painted ceilings, while out in the formal gardens a gold plated car appears to have been driven into one of the fountains, its roof glinting in the sun – a saloon-shaped ingot, as beautiful as it is incongruous.

Behold the strange genius of Italian artist Michaelangelo Pistoletto.

Rebel, iconoclast and philosopher, Pistoletto is among the world's greatest living artists. And between now and December, the palace is his playground.

Pistoletto is a leading light of the Art Povera movement – a scene which evolved in 1960s Italy, which challenged the established art world by using worthless, discarded and everyday items – such as rags and old newspaper.

Newspapers form one of Pistoletto's most striking pieces – a globe coated in coverage of the EU referendum debate, encased in a metal cage of longitudes and latitudes.

Called Mappamonda/Globe it challenges us to think about separation in creating cohesion – in this case a unified globe without countries or continents.

Another striking object is his breathtaking Third Paradise –a triple loop wrapped in his trademark rags, suspended above the Great Hall, framing the murals above. It is a symbolic, and optimistic cry for a harmonious unified future – recurring themes in Michaelangelo's work.

The show is the third exhibition of contemporary modern art hosted at the Woodstock stately home – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staged by the Blenheim Art Foundation, it follows previous site-specific displays by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei in 2014 and Lawrence Weiner, the New Yorker dubbed the father of conceptual art, last year.

The artist said he was thrilled to have been asked to stage the show in the former home of his hero Winston Churchill – a symbol of resistance and hope during the Second World War.

He said: "I am so surprised to be in a place linked with a mythical perception of England. I am happy to be in the place where Churchill was born and his spirit is here. It's fantastic I can meet Churchill, even though he is not here."

He encouraged visitors to interact with his work saying it is "based not just on individual expression but engagement – and on inspiring change in society."

And did he feel constrained by the historic nature of the palace and its priceless treasures? “I took inspiration from the palace," he says. "There were no restrictions.

“My work is in confrontation with the palace but also lives very well together. They react – and some feel like they have always been here.”

Michaelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace runs at the Woodstock stately home until the end of the year. Go to blenheimpalace.com