By Artists: From the Home to the Museum, from the Museum to the Home. Homages to the works of the Cerruti Collection. Chapter 1

May 11, 2019 – January 5 , 2020

To celebrate the opening of the Cerruti Collection to the public, Castello di Rivoli initiates a program to present contemporary works of art that pay homage to this extraordinary collection. The first chapter in this series inaugurates with artworks by Anna Boghiguian, Camille Henrot, Liu Ding, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Susan Philipsz, and Seth Price. Other artists will be presenting their works in future chapters, in an organic process that creates a dialog between different times and places.

Hosted in the outdoor atrium and on the first floor of Castello di Rivoli as well as in the garden of the Cerruti Collection villa, the artworks in this first chapter are inspired in their heterogeneity both by the past works collected by Francesco Federico Cerruti, the architecture of the villa, and by the life of this reserved entrepreneur and collector.

Cerruti’s passion for books and bindings is what prompts artists and visitors to reflect on the historic origins and potential of a story about surfaces, which are rolled, folded, bound, and brought into contact with one another: parchment and paper in modern books. Three new leporellos (accordion-fold style books) created by Anna Boghiguian bring together writing, painting and collage to create a unique story, between the past, present and future. Giuseppe Penone has chosen to display a delicate recreation of the cover of the first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass using the frottage technique. For Penone, this book encompasses Whitman’s vitality and by running one’s fingers lightly over its surface, one can relive the tactile experience of the poet. The photo collages by Seth Price also speak of the relationship between narration, subjectivity and surfaces – from the vantage point of our digital era.

Villa Cerruti’s eclecticism, the contrast between its splendid collection and Cerruti’s reclusive lifestyle inspire artists and visitors to forge unexpected and fascinating associations: between an interior space that is both domestic and a spiritual refuge; between the urge to collect and the nature of exchange or the returning of a gift. Camille Henrot’s artwork focuses on this last dichotomy: this sculpture is both a house and a ‘piggy bank’, as well as a precious gift-talisman. After visiting Villa Cerruti, artist Liu Ding created a new installation specifically for Castello di Rivoli: an ‘orchid room’ where the celebration of beauty and daily life alternate in a game of mirrors. Purchased by Cerruti and sometimes installed in the offices of his bookbinding company, the artwork by Giulio Paolini is dedicated to the book Art and Space by philosopher Martin Heidegger. On this occasion, it joins the pieces by the artist that are part of the Castello di Rivoli collection.

Finally a new sound installation by Susan Philipsz awaits visitors both in the outdoor atrium of Castello di Rivoli and in the garden of the villa, connecting the house-museum and the contemporary art museum through an echo of acoustic vibrations inspired by the sound of the wind.

A project conceived by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, with the curatorial coordination by Sara Catenacci and the assistance of Elena D’Angelo to the production.