Touring - Piemonte Feel

In Europe, Torino is considered one of the principal centres of contemporary art. In recent years, Piemonte has found a way to extract a centre-stage role on the international scene by offering the public constant, high-profile activity. A success that has been built upon dialogue and synergies between public institutions and private facilities spanning over years of collaboration. The opening credits of this “ideal film about Contemporary Art”, also feature the GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Modern Art Gallery) of Torino, which prides itself in its permanent collection of over 20,000 pieces, and the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Contemporary Art Museum) – Castello di Rivoli, with its extraordinary contrast between the ancient Sabauda residence designed by Filippo Juvarra and renovated for the Regione Piemonte by architect Andrea Bruno and the works of such contemporary artists as Vedova, Pistoletto, Paolini, Merz, Sol Lewitt, Long, Anselmo, Fabro, Kounellis…Then there is the Accademia Albertina which, besides a long résumé in the sphere of artistic disciplines, proudly offers many visiting exhibits.

Another moment in the Sistema Arte is the foundations dedicated to contemporary art. The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo at Via Modane alternates between a calendar of exhibition events with seminars and conferences, while the Fondazione Merz holds the works, archives and projects by the spiritual father of Arte Povera. Galleries and artists join this reality. This is the great tradition of Torino’s art dealers, who have raised new talents to then launch them onto the international market: such characters as Sperone, Pistoi, Tazzoli, Persano, Paludetto, Martano, have acted as a go-between Torino and the world by bringing international art to Torino and – in Gian Marco Sperone’s case – making some of the more significant names of Italian art known around the world.

The appointment with the market is with “Altissima” which, in the words of Man Ray, realises “the dreams that money can buy”. Just as the artistic avant garde dictated, Torino brings art even beyond the limits of exhibits and museums in order to beautify our daily lives and to make our use of urban spaces more pleasant. Eleven years ago, “Luci d’Artista” lit up Torino’s monuments, streets and piazzas with works by Merz, Horn, Buren, Vercruyssen, Paladino, while Rudi Fuchs’ project “Artecittà”, sustained by the Fondazione CRT per l’arte, commissioned eleven internationally known artists - Anselmo, Kounellis, Kirkeby, Mainolfi, Merz, Paolini, Penone, Pichler, Pistoletto, Rückriem, Zorio – with an installation to integrate in the salvage of the “railway loop” within an urban area. More recently, the OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni Ferroviarie - have been salvaged in the same area, offering a fascinating example of industrial architecture. Art itineraries that cross Piemonte depart from this ideal constellation of artists, museum managers, merchants, critic and collectors. Michelangelo Pistoletto founds Cittadellarte, “a new model of an artistic and cultural institution that places the artist in direct interaction with different branches of society” in the city of Biella; another location of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo opens in the 18th century palazzo in the town hall square in Guarene. The former Filatoio di Caraglio (Caraglio spinning wheel) is converted into a cultural centre, open to interesting thematic, expositional projects while art dealer Franz Paludetto has moved his historical art gallery to the Rivara castle.