After its historic redevelopment by Renzo Piano and the recent opening of its hanging gardens, Lingotto continues to be an example of industrial archaeology in transformation

Exactly a hundred years ago, Lingotto was completed as one of the most innovative factories of the day. What made it special was the layout of the assembly line the Fiat vehicles were built on. It started at the bottom of the building and by the time the cars were completed they could be trialed on the famous test track at the top of the building. Although production soon moved to Mirafiori, the track remained a unique architectural icon. Even today it stands out in the Turin skyline, just over a kilometer of asphalt recently enriched by six hundred species of plants, against the backdrop of the Alps.

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First Spaceship on Venus by Sylvie Fleury: a rocket becomes an environmental sculpture in the hanging gardens of the Pista 500. is one of the seven works distributed in the outdoor route and is linked to the solo exhibition dedicated to the artist, entitled 'Turn me on'. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

An open-air art museum

Since last May, the Pista 500 track has also been part of the exhibition itinerary of the Pinacoteca Agnelli, as a sort of open-air art museum that extends the interior spaces devoted to the art collection and temporary exhibitions. A series of works by international artists is distributed along the track in the most diverse media. The first artists to be involved are Nina Beier, Valie Export, Sylvie Fleury, Shilpa Gupta, Louise Lawler, Mark Leckey and Cally Spooner.

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British artist Mark Leckey has created beneath my feet begin to crumble, a monumental LED video installation designed for the parabolic curve of the Pista 500, in dialogue with the mountain range that forms its natural backdrop. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion of Persano

Reflecting on the contemporary

They are not linked by a shared field of research, but the curators recognize their work as embodying an art practice capable of reflecting on the contemporary world. The projects, most of which have been redesigned or produced for Pista 500, exhibit a strong aesthetic impact without concealing critical implications, sometimes explicitly feminist. This does not in the least detract from the fascination and incisiveness of the works and installations, as in the case of Sylvie Fleury, the first artist invited to present a solo show with an apparently Pop taste on the third floor of the gallery.

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The layout of the room ironically inspired by Daniel Buren in Sylvie Fleury's solo exhibition, with which the Pinacoteca agnelli begins this new season. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

An immersive layout

Curated by Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti and Sarah Cosulich, the latter recently appointed director after the Quadriennale in Rome, the in-depth analysis devoted to the French artist is particularly engaging and combines the political and humorous value of her provocations with an immersive and aesthetically captivating layout. In one of the seven rooms, some sparkling metallic parts of car bodies are accompanied by videos of motorcyclists shooting, as if at an identitarian target, at designer handbags from luxury brands.

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Be Good, Be Bad, Just Be! is a reproduction of a grotto by Sylvie Fleury, a crossing space between one exhibition room and the next. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

Aesthetic transformation

The title of the exhibition, “Turn Me On”, plays on gender construct and stereotypes, capturing the fundamental aspect of desire, both sexual and consumerist. A symbolic work by the artist, found both inside the rooms and amid the gardens, is the aesthetic transformation in a feminine key of a series of space rockets, which become colorful environmental sculptures.

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The room that one crosses coming out of the cave is called Fur Fetish and consists of four walls covered in white fur, a reference to the use of fur worn by women in the cinema. Photo Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

A small exhibit

The exhibition layout closes with a display of paintings by Picasso and photographs by Dora Maar, which comes from works from the Agnelli collection in collaboration with the Fondation Beyeler. This small exhibit occupies the suspended structure of the Scrigno, which will host shows based on the Pinacoteca’s own collection, featuring individual works or built around selected themes.

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Aerial view of the test track, enriched last September with 40,000 plants. Courtesy Pinacoteca Agnelli. Credit: Mybosswas
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