From November 1 to 3, the 26th edition of Artissima returns to Turin, the most important contemporary art fair in Italy. As every year, hundreds of art galleries from around the world and contemporary art lovers will converge at the Oval Lingotto… but in Turin, there is Artissima and much more! There are numerous autumn events and exhibitions in the city and its surroundings!
There are many destinations, and we at Artsupp want to help you organize these three intense days among stands, museums, and foundations.
Let’s discover together all the exhibitions not to be missed
What to see at GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna
Muhannad Shono
On the occasion of Artissima and the new project for the 2019 edition “Hub Middle East,” which includes the presence in Turin of the most significant representatives of foundations, museums, and galleries alongside collectors, critics, curators, and artists from the Middle East, the GAM presents in its garden and for the first time in an Italian museum institution, the site-specific installation by Saudi artist Muhannad Shono titled “The Caliph seeks Asylum (il Califfo cerca Asilo).”
Discover more: Muhannad Shono. The Caliph seeks Asylum (il Califfo cerca Asilo) – until January 19
Paolo Icaro
An anthological exhibition that pays tribute to Paolo Icaro, one of the most important figures in Italian art in recent decades. “Paolo Icaro. Anthology” narrates 55 years of his work, from 1964 to 2019, summarized in about fifty works, some created specifically for the exhibition.
Discover more: Paolo Icaro. Anthology – until January 6
The Creations of Primo Levi
On the occasion of the celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Primo Levi, the GAM in Turin exhibits for the first time in Italy, in the spaces of the Wunderkammer, a significant selection of wire works created by the great writer and intellectual.
Discover more: Primo Levi. Figures – until January 26
Discover all the other exhibitions at GAM
The Worlds of Riccardo Gualino at the Royal Museums of Turin
An exhibition to tell the story of a great collector and his extraordinary history: “The Worlds of Riccardo Gualino, Collector and Entrepreneur” brings together in the Sale Chiablese of the Royal Museums of Turin, until November 3, 2019, the collection belonging to Riccardo Gualino, uniting the two main groups of works preserved at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin and the Bank of Italy in Rome, along with paintings, sculptures, furnishings, and photographs from museums and institutions in Turin and nationally, private collections, and archives, the first of which is the Central State Archive.
Discover more: The Worlds of Riccardo Gualino, Collector and Entrepreneur – until November 3
The Moon and the Sun as Protagonists at Palazzo Madama
From Earth to the Moon
Fifty years after the first man landed on the Moon, the exhibition “From Earth to the Moon. Art on a Journey to the Silver Star” tells, through over 60 works including paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings and design objects, the influence of the silver star on art and artists from the 19th century to 1969.
Discover more: From Earth to the Moon. Art on a Journey to the Silver Star – until November 11
Arthur Jafa
On the occasion of Artissima 2019, the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco presents at Palazzo Madama in the Senate Hall the video Love is the Message, the Message is Death (2016) by Arthur Jafa, winner of the 47th edition of the PIAC – Prix International d’Art Contemporain. The work is a digital video of seven minutes that showcases a montage of historical and contemporary footage, tracing the history and experience of African Americans through scenes of intense beauty, humor, and violence, presented as a testament to the pain and suffering that African Americans have endured.
Discover more: Arthur Jafa. Love is the Message, the Message is Death – from November 2 to 13
Berlinde De Bruyckere at the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation
Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation presents a major monographic exhibition dedicated to Berlinde De Bruyckere, curated by Irene Calderoni. Her sculptural work explores universal themes such as the suffering body, pain, memory, the need for overcoming and transformation. Strongly influenced by art history and mythology, as well as by the daily reality of collapsing social structures, De Bruyckere creates works with a strong emotional impact that invite reflection on the human condition through their materiality.
Discover more: Berlinde De Bruyckere. ALETHEIA – from November 1 to March 15
Yuri Ancarani, Michael Rakowitz, and Claudia Comte at the Castello di Rivoli
Yuri Ancarani
The exhibition “Yuri Ancarani. The Roots of Violence“, at the Castello di Rivoli until November 10, presents for the first time to the public the film trilogy composed of San Siro (2014), San Vittore (2018), and San Giorgio (2019). The trilogy outlines a further chapter in the research of Yuri Ancarani dedicated to places of socialization, work, and social control. The interaction between human bodies, architectures, technologies, and the resulting emotional and community relationships that form are at the core of the artist’s practice.
Discover more: Yuri Ancarani: The Roots of Violence – until November 10
Michael Rakowitz
The Castello di Rivoli hosts the first European retrospective dedicated to the Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz, winner of the prestigious 2020 Nasher Prize. This award recognizes a living artist whose body of work has had an extraordinary impact on our understanding of sculpture. “Michael Rakowitz: imperfect binding” showcases the most significant works created by the artist over more than twenty years, inspired by architecture, archaeology, cooking, and geopolitics from antiquity to the present. The works narrate the great historical transformations caused by wars and other traumas, denouncing the contradictions of globalization.
Discover more: Michael Rakowitz: imperfect binding – until January 9
Claudia Comte
On October 31, the first solo exhibition in an Italian public museum of Swiss artist Claudia Comte will open. For the exhibition, Comte will create eleven monumental wall interventions specifically designed for the rooms on the third floor of the historic royal residence. Inspired by some decorative motifs from the eighteenth century found on the ceilings and walls of the main building of the Museum, the work unfolds through repeated modules in the space, constructing an enveloping and vibrant optical environment.
Discover more: Claudia Comte – from October 31 to February 23
Man Ray and Tommaso Bonaventura at CAMERA – Italian Center for Photography
The Shots of Man Ray
Until January 19, 2020, CAMERA – Italian Center for Photography pays tribute to the great master with the exhibition “wo/MAN RAY. The Seductions of Photography,” featuring approximately two hundred photographs created from the 1920s until his death.
The exhibition includes some of the images that have made history in 20th-century photography and that have entered the collective imagination thanks to Man Ray’s ability to reinvent not only photographic language but also the representation of the body and face, as well as the very genres of nude and portrait.
Discover more: wo/MAN RAY. The Seductions of Photography – until January 19
Tommaso Bonaventura in the Project Room at Camera
On October 30, the exhibition “Tommaso Bonaventura – 100 Marks – Berlin 2019” opens in the Project Room at Camera, an artistic project by photographer Tommaso Bonaventura, developed in collaboration with curator Elisa Del Prete, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989). The exhibition narrates the Begrüssungsgeld, the welcome money that from 1970 until December 1989 citizens of the GDR received when they entered West Germany for the first time.
Discover more: Tommaso Bonaventura – 100 Marks – Berlin 2019 – from October 30 to January 6
Emilio Prini at Fondazione Merz
On Tuesday, October 29, Fondazione Merz inaugurates a solo exhibition conceived as a tribute to the artist Emilio Prini. This is a tribute from the Fondazione Merz to a debated, elusive artist, certainly brilliant, ironic, authentic, and provocative. The exhibition is also an opportunity to revisit a bond of friendship and deep respect between Emilio Prini and Mario Merz. For the first time, a core of over forty works by Emilio Prini, from 1966 to 2016, is brought to the fore to activate a critical and historical reflection around the experience of one of the most interesting representatives of Arte povera.
Discover more: Emilio Prini – until February 9
The Exhibitions at MAO-Museum of Oriental Art
On the Banks of the Tigris
The exhibition “On the Banks of the Tigris” , presents a selection of about 40 small artifacts including ceramics, terracottas, glass and common household items found in the two cities, putting into dialogue the production from the Hellenistic-Parthian age, coming from the site of Seleucia, with that of the Sasanian period from Coche. There are no collections in Europe of archaeological finds from Seleucia and Coche, except for the one preserved today at MAO.
Discover more: On the Banks of the Tigris. Suggestions from the archaeological collections of MAO: Seleucia and Coche – until January 12
The Warrior Women of the Rising Sun
The exhibition “Warriors from the Rising Sun” aims to pay tribute to the figure of the warrior woman in Japan. The history of Japan includes a period of eight centuries characterized by many conflicts and battles, in which women, particularly those of the warrior class, were educated to undertake every task, from the financial and economic management of their families to those that could involve the use of weapons.
Discover more: Warriors from the Rising Sun. The figure of the warrior woman in Japan – until March 1
Discover all the other exhibitions at MAO
Navjot Altaf at PAV-Parco Arte Vivente
On Saturday, November 2 at 7 PM, on the occasion of Artissima, the PAV Parco Arte Vivente inaugurates “Samakaalik: Earth Democracy and Women’s Liberation”, the first solo exhibition in Italy of one of the most radical Indian artists, Navjot Altaf. The exhibition represents a new chapter in the investigation of the relationship between artistic practices and ecological thought on the Asian continent. With Navjot Altaf, PAV chooses to present the simultaneous intersection (samakaalik in Hindi) of environmental protection struggles with the feminist movement. Altaf’s works explore mining exploitation and intensive agriculture, heavy industry, and the consumption of forests, reflecting on the cultural sovereignty of indigenous peoples.
Discover more: Samakaalik: Earth Democracy and Women’s Liberation (Democrazia della Terra e Femminismo) – from November 2 to February 16
At the Ettore Fico Museum, two exhibitions from the Ernesto Esposito collection
The Ettore Fico Museum presents, for the first time in Turin, an extremely significant journey within the vast collection of Ernesto Esposito: an internationally renowned designer, he has collected, and continues to do so, important works by the greatest contemporary artists, ranging from photography to installation, from painting to video, up to monumental works, showcasing great versatility and foresight.
From the extensive collection of Ernesto Esposito, works have been selected for the exhibition ME TWO, which is further divided into two distinct sections: “Some People” and “Brasil!”.
Some People
Some People tells through the keen eye of the passionate collector how, from a mere documentary form, photography has established itself as an autonomous language parallel to painting, sculpture, and drawing, and how it has always been in dialogue, even conflictual, with other artistic disciplines. Among the artists on display: Von Gloeden, Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Thomas Struth.
Discover more: Some People. Photographs from Von Gloeden to Warhol – until January 26
Focus on contemporary Brazilian art
On October 30, the exhibition “Brasil!” opens, the title of which references the homonymous film by Terry Gilliam from 1985, aiming to focus on the latest generations of Brazilian artists who have marked a turning point and outlined, in the international landscape, new paths and new trajectories, establishing themselves as a true school and movement.
Discover more: Brasil! Focus on Brazilian art – from October 30 to February 16
3 exhibitions at Fondazione 107
The Fondazione 107 hosts until December 1 three exhibitions by Lara Nickel, Nicola Toffolini, and Franco Rasma.
Lara Nickel pays tribute to Jannis Kounellis
Lara Nickel presents the exhibition “12 Horses – Homage to Jannis Kounellis”, a tribute to Kounellis’s work created in 1969 for the Roman gallery L’Attico. Kounellis exhibited twelve live horses inside the gallery: a surreal and dreamlike experience, still emblematic today for its disruptive break and rethinking of the status of the artwork. Fifty years later, and exclusively for Fondazione 107, the American painter pays homage to the Master through the medium of painting and a refined reinterpretation of the same. “12 Horses – Homage to Jannis Kounellis” presents twelve life-sized hyper-realistic paintings of horses on a white background, displayed similarly to Kounellis’s living horses.
Discover more: Lara Nickel. 12 Horses – Homage to Jannis Kounellis – until December 1
The Drawings of Nicola Toffolini
“Between a Picnic and Chaos” is the title of the exhibition by Nicola Toffolini showcasing the artist’s drawings. Maniacal in their analytical precision, Toffolini’s drawings are the result of a surprising use of physical and mental energies: the extreme precision, the calligraphic minutiae, and the obsessive attention to detail testify to a voluntary “waste” of forces. This approach to drawing requires time and concentration, foundational elements of manual production, and a dedication to seriality that borders on alienation.
Discover more: Nicola Toffolini. Between a Picnic and Chaos – until December 1
Franco Rasma – Mehr Licht!
“Mehr Licht!” is a solo exhibition dedicated to Franco Rasma, a unique voice in the contemporary Italian scene. A tribute focused on both the painterly production (cultured, visionary) and the sculptural work (visceral, post-industrial) of the Master, presented through a display reminiscent of anthropology museum setups. Since the 1980s, “Mehr Licht!” has been the only title for exhibitions dedicated to Rasma: the manifesto of an obsession, a dense short circuit of ghosts in which only continued repetition can soothe the artist’s soul.
Discover more: Franco Rasma. Mehr Licht! – until December 1
David LaChapelle and Art Nouveau at the Reggia di Venaria
David LaChapelle
At the Reggia di Venaria, in the Citroniera of the Juvarra Stables, the grand exhibition of David LaChapelle “Divine Acts” invites visitors to immerse themselves in an engaging vision of the works of the famous American photographer. This new showcase features 70 works of large and very large formats, the most significant from various periods of the artist’s career.
Discover more: David LaChapelle. Divine Acts – until January 6
Art Nouveau on Display
“Art Nouveau: The Triumph of Beauty,” an exhibition that tells the extraordinary artistic flourishing that swept and changed taste between the late 19th century and the early 20th century through posters, paintings, sculptures, furniture, and ceramics.
Discover more: Art Nouveau: The Triumph of Beauty – until January 26
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