The fall season at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on transforming the permanent collection’s exhibition layout through a series of initiatives involving new commissions, rearrangements, acquisitions, and educational projects. Together, these initiatives reshape the museum’s exhibition layout from a perspective that views the Collection as a constantly evolving space rather than a static heritage.
The program consists of several complementary projects: the third edition of *Inserzioni*, the commission program conceived by Director Francesco Manacorda; the new rearrangement dedicatedto Arte Povera; a permanent gallery dedicated to Giulio Paolini, created in memory of the collector Gino Viliani; a new edition of *Il Castello Incantato*, featuring a gallery dedicated to Remo Salvadori; and the presentation of the winning works of the 2026 Piero Siena Prize.
One of the main highlights is the third edition of “Inserzioni,” scheduled to open on September 25 in the first- and second-floor spaces of the Castello building. Created with the aim of inviting contemporary artists to engage with the unfinished architecture of the Savoy residence and the collection’s narrative, the project continues to periodically transform the museum’s galleries into an ever-evolving exhibition.
The 2026 edition features three new commissions entrusted to Haris Epaminonda, Christelle Oyiri, and Sung Tieu—artists who address contemporary themes such as the migration of people and cultural forms, the relationship between architecture and the construction of identity, collective memory, and the structures that govern globalized society. Although they employ different artistic languages, the three works share a reflection on space as a cultural and political device, capable of preserving senses of belonging, hierarchies, memories, and power relations.
For Haris Epaminonda, the Castello serves as a connecting element between the hall decorated by Juvarra and Casa Mollino, revealing correspondences between two different ways of conceiving space as a representation of identity. Through a fragmentary construction, the project also opens up multiple interpretive and narrative possibilities.
Sung Tieu, on the other hand, creates a site-specific installation designed specifically for the Castello di Rivoli. The work reflects on the mechanisms that shape collective memory and the sense of belonging, exploring how stories take root in spaces, architecture, and lived experiences.
Christelle Oyiri uses the Pyramid of Memphis as a starting point for a reflection on the transformation of symbols in cinema, sculpture, and contemporary installation art. The work traces the shift of sacred architecture toward forms of commercial spectacle, questioning the ability of faith to survive the fractures of history through music, popular culture, and the imaginaries of the Black diaspora.
Alongside the new commissions, the museum is presenting a major reinstallation dedicated to Arte Povera, a project that began in July 2026. The historical section dedicated to this movement represents one of the foundational elements of the Castello di Rivoli’s identity, as it houses one of the most important collections dedicated to the leading figures of Arte Povera. The movement’s international significance, in fact, contributed to the very founding of the museum, which opened in 1984.
The new exhibition layout assigns each artist a dedicated space, highlighting the Collection’s major masterpieces and the works on loan from the Fondazione Arte CRT. The first floor features works by Alighiero Boetti, Piero Gilardi, and Michelangelo Pistoletto, while the second floor houses works by Giovanni Anselmo, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, and Gilberto Zorio.
Starting in October 2026, the exhibition will also be expanded to include a room dedicated to Emilio Prini, completing a presentation that takes the form of a true permanent exhibition of the Arte Povera movement. This initiative aims to strengthen the role of the Castello di Rivoli in the preservation, study, and promotion of a public heritage that continues to be the subject of research and interpretation.
Also as part of the Collection’s reorganization, starting in October 2026, the museum will dedicate a gallery to Carol Rama for the first time, recognizing her role in 20th-century art history and highlighting the city of Turin’s connection to some of the key movements in Italian contemporary art.
Among the permanent installations is also the project *Giulio Paolini: In Two Acts*, curated by Marcella Beccaria and Andrea Viliani and housed in Room 22 on the second floor. The project unfolds in two distinct phases. The first act, launched in the summer of 2026, features the artist using two pre-existing installations, *Contemplator enim* and *In esilio*, transforming them into exhibition spaces designed to house other works of his own. The second act, scheduled to begin in October 2026, expands this installation with a group of works that belonged to the collector Gino Viliani, recently pledged as a gift to the Castello di Rivoli.
“Paolini thus transforms the gallery,” state curators Beccaria and Viliani, “into an exhibition and narrative mechanism in which to bring together—as if on a single stage—different places, people, and roles, such as the artist’s studio, a room in a house, the museum gallery, or the artist, the collector, the curator, and the public.”
Since September, the museum’s third floor has also been hosting a new edition of *Il Castello Incantato*(The Enchanted Castle), a project developed in curatorial collaboration with Marcella Beccaria, Francesco Manacorda, and Paola Zanini. Conceived as an initiative that combines educational and exhibition elements, the project engages children and young people in the process of discovering contemporary art, recognizing the youngest visitors as the museum’s present and future audience.
The initiative draws inspiration from the concept of the agora, the public square of ancient Greece, presenting the museum as a place for meeting, discussion, learning, and participation. The 2026 edition features an exhibition dedicated to artists who have played a significant role in the exhibition history of the Castello di Rivoli, presenting works by John Baldessari, William Kentridge, Otobong Nkanga, and Paola Pivi.
The exhibition also includes Peter Friedl’s large-scale installation *No prey, no pay*, inspired by pirates and their forgotten stories, and *dream.lab* by Rivane Neuenschwander. The Brazilian artist’s work draws on the creatures and monsters found in children’s dreams and is presented in a new version produced by the museum, created in part using drawings made by local children during workshops organized by the Education Department under the artist’s guidance. Within *Il Castello Incantato* there is also *Continuo infinito presente*, a room dedicated to Remo Salvadori and created in collaboration with the Remo Salvadori Archive. The project was completed after the artist’s passing, which occurred during the exhibition’s preparation phase.
The room features *La stanza delle tazze* (1985–1986), a work belonging to the Castello di Rivoli Collection and considered one of the artist’s most important works. The installation, dedicated to the relationship between color and form and inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical principles, is accompanied by other works on loan from the Salvadori Archive.
“By seeking the spiritual dimension within reality,” says Marcella Beccaria, “Salvadori charted a path of rare ethical depth and consistency. Already initiated in close dialogue with Remo and subsequently developed in collaboration with his Archive thanks to Sally Benjamin Salvadori, this gallery is a tribute to a great artist whose vision will continue to shine.”
The season is rounded out with the presentation of the 2026 Piero Siena Prize, organized in collaboration with the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-South Tyrol, the Italian Culture Department, and the Museion—Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano. The initiative, curated by Federica Lamedica, stems from an agreement through which the Province acquires works by artists active in South Tyrol—selected in collaboration with partner museums—and subsequently adds them to their respective public collections.
For the 2026 edition, the winners are Stefano Bernardi, born in Bolzano in 1970, whose work will be acquired by the Castello di Rivoli, and Samira Mosca, born in Bolzano in 1995, selected for the Museion. Following an initial presentation at the Centro Trevi in Bolzano in the summer of 2026, the award-winning works will be on view starting September 24 in the historic halls of Rivoli Castle. At the same time, the museum’s permanent collection is enriched by the acquisition of Stefano Bernardi’s work, which thus becomes part of the institution’s public heritage.
“Building a public collection today means much more than simply preserving a heritage,” says President Francesca Lavazza. “It means keeping it alive, continually renewing its narrative, and connecting it to the questions of the present through new productions, re-staging, and acquisitions—but also knowing how to bring a collection to life, acting as a bridge between artist and institution, assuming responsibility for a public asset, and, at the same time, continuing to chart new paths.”
“Commissioning new works and preserving heritage are two expressions of the same public responsibility, not two separate activities. On the one hand, the Museum shapes the present; on the other, it preserves memory so that it continues to shape the future,” says Director Francesco Manacorda.
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| The Rivoli Castle is revitalizing its collection with new commissions and reinstallations |
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