Torino Art Week
Turin Art week in early November this year was a good enough reason to visit this chic and fascinating city for a second time.
The first time I experienced Olafur Eliasson’s work was in Aarhus – while walking through his corridor in the sky which filters the city panorama in different colours – a work entitled Your Rainbow Panorama and later explored his exhibition Riverbed at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark in 2014/15. So the opportunity to experience his new work Orizzonti tremanti / Trembling horizons, at the Castello di rivoli launched during the Turin Art week in early November this year was a good enough reason to visit this chic and fascinating city for a second time.
Olafur Eliasson plays with light and water and imagines and builds installations to be enjoyed alone as sort of little places of refuge from the total darkness which otherwise envelopes the hall.
The artist transforms the Manica Lunga wing of Castello di Rivoli – a very long hall of already very grand immersive proportions by installing a new series of six immersive kaleidoramas combining the words kaleidoscope and panorama named Your Curious Kaleidorama, Your Power Kaleidorama, Your Self-reflective Kaleidorama, Your Hesitant Kaleidorama, Your Memory of the Kaleidorama, and Your living Kaleidorama.
In Turin, only those serious about art visit Artissima – the most important contemporary art fair in Italy. An interesting variety of galleries both experimental and established show new and iconic works in a spacious hall at the Fiere of Torino. Collectors are spoilt with a feast for the senses and a generous welcome by seasoned gallerists and artists and entertained with talks and workshops by the industry’s finest.
Within Artissima one found Sara Dolfi Agostini in her role as curator for the Fondazione Paul Thorel – launching a competition for a residency at their premises in Naples. Participating in the fair with a stand showcasing some of the late artist’s works as well as works from his collection which includes artists such as Anish Kapoor and Claire Fontaine, the foundation also held a panel discussion launching their various projects.
Another highlight of the very vibrant and inspiring Torino Art Week was the launch of new exhibitions at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebuadengo.
In Backwards ahead artists Simon Starling and Slavs and Tatars show works criticizing society and its obsession of using time to measure progress. Liz Glynn, Goshka Macuga, Yinka Shonibare’s works discuss material culture while Paul Graham, June Crespo, Josh Kline, Andra Ursuţa’s works deal with paradoxical agents of social order and discipline.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s film Air Pressure (A diary of the sky) produced in collaboration with The Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media and curated by Irene Calderoni and Amanda Sroka is a chilling documentary work about the torture-like presence of Israeli fighter jets in the Lebanese skies.
Diana Policarpo’s Liquid Transfers – winner of the Illy Present Future 2021 Prize Exhibition, curated by Bernardo Follini in collaboration with Artissima is another fantastic video work exploring the connections between fungal life, and great social upheaval.
The others fair, where one finds another spectacular offer by dozens of international teams of curators and a very varied interesting range of galleries and artist run spaces was being held for the 10th time. Here one found a more affordable selection of great works and a vibrant, hopeful atmosphere.
And finally of all the satellite events, the fantastic performance work by London-based Luca Bosani at Osservatorio Futura was a mind blowing immersive experience. His iconic and extraordinary extrapolated and loaded Shoes had creatures in them – UPOs for one night only.
Luca is currently showing at the Rosa Qwir space in Balzan Malta as part of a collective.
Artissima 2022, 4-6 November (preview 3 November) at Oval Pavilion, Torino, Italy http://www.artissima.it
