FEATURES | The museum as a place of production

Now in its third year, Advertisements confirms its role as a permanent laboratory within the Rivoli Castle. Designed to invite contemporary artists to engage with the’unfinished architecture of Castle and along the route of the Collection, the project periodically transforms the rooms of the First and second floors of theCastello Building as part of an ever-evolving exhibition programme.

The new commissions of Haris Epaminonda, Christelle Oyiri e Sung Tieu address some of the most pressing issues of our time: the migration of people and the cultural forms, the relationship between architecture and the construction of identity, the memory as an active element of the present and the invisible structures which govern globalised society. Although they employ profoundly different artistic languages, the three artists share a reflection on the space as a cultural and political construct. The home, the museum and architecture become places where a sense of belonging, hierarchies, memories and forms of power.

For Haris Epaminonda, the building is transformed into a portal that creates a dialogue between the sumptuously decorated hall and the Juvarra with Mollino House, revealing unexpected parallels between two radically different ways of constructing space as a representation of identity. The site-specific installation by Sung Tieu explores the forces that shape the collective memory, reflecting on how stories are rooted in places and lived experience. Finally, Christelle Oyiri use the Pyramid of Memphis to follow the transformation of the sacred architecture in commercial theatre, exploring how faith manages to survive through the music, the popular culture and the imagery of the Black diaspora.