Torino Trienniale, T2

50 Moons of Saturn

6 November 2008 to 1 February 2009

Curator: Daniel Birnbaum

“50 Moons of Saturn is an exhibition about inspiration, assimilation and defiance. It includes fifty artists from every part of the world, working in all disciplines. Although often pervaded by a melancholy tone, the selected works by no means reveal an introspective or apolitical spirit. Finding oneself under the same cosmic influence of Saturn – “star of melancholy” – signifies many different and often conflicting things.

The saturnine mind is gloomy and depressed, yet inspired and radiant; passive and fundamentally negative, yet rebellious and magnificently productive. Traditionally linked to the artist’s temperament, melancholy is an ambivalent and baffling state of mind, which gives rise to the feeling that a radical transformation is possible despite everything. It is the state of mind of inspiration.”

“50 Moons of Saturn is an exhibition about inspiration, assimilation and defiance. It includes fifty artists from every part of the world, working in all disciplines. Although often pervaded by a melancholy tone, the selected works by no means reveal an introspective or apolitical spirit. Finding oneself under the same cosmic influence of Saturn – “star of melancholy” – signifies many different and often conflicting things. The saturnine mind is gloomy and depressed, yet inspired and radiant; passive and fundamentally negative, yet rebellious and magnificently productive. Traditionally linked to the artist’s temperament, melancholy is an ambivalent and baffling state of mind, which gives rise to the feeling that a radical transformation is possible despite everything. It is the state of mind of inspiration.”

Daniel Birnbaum

T2 will be split into two parts:
The first part will feature two solo shows dedicated to mid-career, internationally acclaimed artists.

For this edition, the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson will be presented at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art and the Chinese-American artist Paul Chan at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo centre for contemporary art in Turin.

The second part will feature the work of forty-eight young artists from all over the world who will be showing new experimental works.

The selected artists are: Meris Angioletti, Rosa Barba, Jennifer Bornstein, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Ulla von Brandenburg, Matthew Brannon, Gerard Byrne, Bonnie Camplin / Paulina Olowska, Valerio Carrubba, Antonio Cataldo & Mariagiovanna Nuzzi, Kerstin Cmelka, Keren Cytter, Simon Dybbroe Möller, Lara Favaretto, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Anna Galtarossa, Andrea Geyer, Loris Gréaud, Wade Guyton, Haegue Yang, Annika Von Hausswolff, Ragnar Kjartansson, Joachim Koester, Koo Jeong-a, Sandra Kranich, Robert Kusmirowski, Rivane Neuenschwander, Diego Perrone, Alessandro Piangiamore, Giuseppe Pietroniro, Giulia Piscitelli, Pehiman Rahimi, Pietro Roccasalva, Tomas Saraceno, Wilhelm Sasnal, Benjamin Saurer, Alberto Tadiello, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gert and Uwe Tobias, Luca Trevisani, Tatiana Trouvé, Ian Tweedy, Donald Urquhart, Guido van der Werve, Jordan Wolfson and Akram Zaatari.

The Torino Trienniale is organised and promoted by Castello di Rivoli Museum of Conteporary Art, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and by Fondazione Torino Musei (the Turin Foundation of Museums). This second edition of “T” further strengthens the commitment of the organisers to work together for contemporary art.

The Torino Triennale aims to create dialogue between young experimental art and that of mid career artists who are already internationally acclaimed for their work.

Entitled 50 moons of Saturn, the exhibition will take place in three venues: Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and the Promotrice delle Belle Arti. The decision to focus on three major venues for this edition of the Triennale aims at clarifying the exhibition concept, thus making the Triennale a more intense viewing experience.

T2 Exhibition venues: Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Rivoli-Turin; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Palazzina della Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Turin

T2 catalogue: a catalogue for the second edition of the Torino Triennale, featuring texts by Daniel Birnbaum, George Baker, Dominique Gongalez-Foerster, Arto Lindsay and Hu Fang, will be published by Skira.