A new photography and video art space in the city of Turin

On May 17 2022, Gallerie d’Italia inaugurated its new exhibition space in the beating heart of Turin. This is the fourth Gallerie d’Italia’s space in Italy after the ones in Milan, Naples and Vicenza, and this one in particular was supported by the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, owner of the historical Palazzo Turinetti,  where Turin’s Gallerie are now located.  

This new museum, designed by architect Michele De Lucchi, was thought as a common ground between past and future with a particular focus on photography and video art. Italian history and innovation merge to give birth to a very unique place in the city.  

_{^{Images courtesy of Gallerie d’Italia}}

By focusing on the spatial composition, the entrance has a very typical open arc shape, probably designed to takes up the Gallerie’s logo. Once crossed that there’s a wide staircase, also thought as a meeting point for visitors, as in the central part of it are in fact placed some cushions, where people can sit down and talk to each other.

Right in front of the ticket’s desk, some stairs lead visitors to Gallerie’s immersive room, that through screen projections, introduce them to the museum’s exhibitions and the reasons behind the choose of the artists displayed.

On the same floor there’s Intesa Sanpaolo’s Publifoto archive, that can be freely consult through a digital wall. The wall allows people to choose a photograph, read the description of it and even save it on their smartphone by using Gallerie d’Italia’s mobile app. The app can be easily downloaded by framing a QR code placed all over the museum.

The first floor is then designed to hold temporary exhibitions, which are now dedicated to Italian photographer and video artist Paolo Pellegrin (here’s an article about Pellegrin’s artwork written by our Silvia Galati) and to a selection of photographs by the historical Italian photojournalism agency Publifoto. These last represents a quite interesting witness of post-World War II’s pop-culture in Italy, between music idols (such as Mina and Gianni Morandi), television hosts and popular advertisings of the “economic boom” era. The most beautiful picture is, however, the one showing a group of people watching 1969’s moon landing on a tiny television.

In conclusion of the tour, there’s the so called “piano nobile” of the building which houses a Piedmontese’s art permanent exhibit. Paintings, sculptures and tapestries are all there to remember visitors the constant dialogue between past, present and future as well as between local and global art forms.

Both temporary exhibits, respectively entitled: “La fragile meraviglia. Un viaggio nella natura che cambia” and “Dalla guerra alla luna 1945-1969. Sguardi dall’Archivio Publifoto Intesa Sanpaolo” are open to visitors until September 4th 2022.