JR – DÉPLACÉ·E·S
Gallerie d’Italia – Turin
From the 9th of February to the 16th of July, 2023
Curator: Arturo Galansino
In collaboration with the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation
Materials and images at the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XiptoHtpQizUcX62PK7aULGy3ifUQFTp?usp=share_link
Turin, 8 February 2023 – Déplacé∙e∙s, the first solo exhibition in Italy by JR, a French artist famous throughout the world for his projects that bring together photography, public art and social commitment, will be open to the public in the Gallerie d’Italia, Intesa Sanpaolo’s Turin museum, from the 9th of February to the 16th of July, 2023.
Combining various expressive languages, JR (1983) brings his personal touch in recounting reality and stimulating reflections on social fragilities to the exhibition, spread over 4,000 square metres of the museum in Piazza San Carlo, staged in collaboration with the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation and curated by Arturo Galansino.
“We are welcoming to Intesa Sanpaolo’s new Gallerie d'Italia museum in Turin the work of JR, this extraordinary artist who is able to stimulate the active participation and the reflection of society on major issues like immigration and the social tragedies that wars bring with them. Intesa Sanpaolo, confirmed as one of the leading European banks by the 2022 results presented a few days ago, seeks to play its part in alleviating social emergencies with the largest private project in Italy aimed at combatting poverty, with aid for the people of Ukraine and with the wider support given to non-profit associations and organisations - including through the Charitable allocated by the Chairmanship. The images of JR that capture the smiles of children despite difficulties and suffering are a powerful rallying cry of faith in the future,” commented Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo.
Giovanni Bazoli, Chairman Emeritus of Intesa Sanpaolo, said: “The presentation at the Gallerie d’Italia of the project created by the internationally-renowned artist JR who, with talent and sensibility, transforms art into social commitment, confirms that our new museum in Turin is a place open to reflection on the most urgent challenges of today. The initiative fully expresses the fundamental values of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Progetto Cultura, aimed at building a sustainable and inclusive society by leveraging the immense potential of culture.”
“The Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation has worked alongside Intesa Sanpaolo in defining the strategies of the Galleria d’Italia – Piazza San Carlo from the outset,” said Francesco Profumo, Chairman of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation. “The museum was conceived as a cultural bastion open to the whole city, able to explore the complexity of the future challenges connected to environmental, social and economic sustainability. For the staging of the Déplacé∙e∙s exhibition by JR at the Gallerie d’Italia, the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation made available its rich network of relationships, involving in the exhibition’s correlated events the various territorial entities with which it is engaged in constructing a more inclusive society. A commitment that is also manifest in the support for actions of raising awareness, training and information that can contribute to promoting a new and more balanced narrative of migration.”
Starting with the Parisian banlieue more than twenty years ago, JR has taken his art throughout the world with monumental works of public art that are able to interact with vast numbers of people and inspire whole communities, from the Brazilian favelas to a maximum security prison in California, from the Louvre Pyramid to the Egyptian pyramids, from the border between Israel and Palestine to the border between Mexico and United States.
The problems of migrants and refugees, always highly topical, have been part of JR's artistic investigation for a long time. The project Deplacé.e.s, begun in 2022, brings together for the first time in this exhibition a number of images shot by the artist in crisis zones, from war-torn Ukraine to the boundless refugee camps of Mugombwa in Rwanda, Mbera in Mauritania, Cùcuta in Colombia and Lesbos in Greece in order to prompt reflection on the difficult conditions of thousands of people due to conflicts, wars, famines and climate changes and involve people excluded from the artistic and cultural circuit under the banner of values such as liberty, imagination, creativity and participation.
Although ephemeral, JR’s art creates an impact on society and on the world in which we live. It is made for people and with people, demonstrating the importance of our individual and collective role in improving the present and trying to answer a core question for the artist: can art change the world?
The exhibition tour starts at the entrance to the museum where the staircase has been transformed into a trompe l’oeil with an anamorphic image, an optical illusion with which the visitors will be invited to interact.
The exhibition continues in the underground rooms where, through video, photographs, wooden sculptures and the staging of large tarpaulins depicting the images of children encountered during visits to refugee camps from Rwanda to Greece, the public can experience and immerse themselves in the work and the travels that led the Parisian artist to tackle one of the great issues of our day, forced migration.
The works, the outcome of the meetings and actions of public art undertaken by JR, are also the main subjects in the immersive room of the Gallerie where a video-installation created for the occasion retraces the “travels” of the large tarpaulins in other parts of the world that, in this specific project, are the real common thread of the story. The setting, a large site-specific installation, also involves the spectators with works on a monumental scale, thanks to the artist’s ability to put the spotlight on the public through video and photographic means.
Around the exhibition – as with previous exhibitions – a rich programme of events will be staged, included in the public programme #INSIDE which, through encounters with personalities from the world of culture, will make possible an in-depth exploration of the issues linked to the reflections prompted by the exhibition. The Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation is collaborating with the Gallerie d’Italia, involving in the exhibition’s correlated events the various territorial entities with which it is engaged in constructing a more inclusive society.
The exhibition catalogue, produced by Edizioni Gallerie d’Italia | Skira, will be available from March 2023 in Italian, French and English versions.
The Turin museum, along with those of Milan, Naples and Vicenza, is part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia museum project, led by Michele Coppola, the Bank’s Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historic Heritage.
USEFUL INFORMATION
WHERE: Gallerie d’Italia – Turin, Piazza San Carlo 156, Turin
OPENING TIMES: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.; Wednesday, from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m.; closed on Monday; last entry: an hour and a half before closure
ADMISSION CHARGES: full €10; reduced €8; free entry for partners, schools, minors under 18 years of age and on the first Sunday of every month; reduced special €5 for those under 26 years of age and clients of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group
INFORMATION AND BOOKINGS: http://www.gallerieditalia.com, torino@gallerieditalia.com, Freephone number 800.167619
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About Intesa Sanpaolo
Intesa Sanpaolo is Italy’s leading banking group – serving families, businesses and the real economy – with a significant international presence. Intesa Sanpaolo’s distinctive business model makes it a European leader in Wealth Management, Protection & Advisory, highly focused on digital and fintech. An efficient and resilient Bank, it benefits from its wholly-owned product factories in asset management and insurance. The Group’s strong ESG commitment includes providing €115 billion in impact lending by 2025 to communities and for the green transition, and €500 million in contributions to support people most in need, positioning Intesa Sanpaolo as a world leader in terms of social impact. Intesa Sanpaolo is committed to Net Zero by 2030 for its own emissions and by 2050 for its loan and investment portfolios. An engaged patron of Italian culture, Intesa Sanpaolo has created its own network of museums, the Gallerie d’Italia, to host the bank's artistic heritage and as a venue for prestigious cultural projects.
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Last updated 9 February 2023 at 16:50
