At the MAO in Turin, the first Italian solo exhibition by Chiharu Shiota, “The Soul Trembles”

For the first time in Italy, the MAO – Museum of Oriental Art in Turin presents the major solo exhibition Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles, dedicated to the internationally acclaimed Japanese artist.

Shiota Chiharu, Uncertain Journey, 2016/2019

The project is curated by Mami Kataoka, Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and creator of the original concept, and by Davide Quadrio, Director of MAO, with curatorial assistance from Anna Musini and Francesca Filisetti.

After being presented at prestigious international institutions such as the Grand Palais in Paris, the Busan Museum of Art, the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai, the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane and the Shenzhen Art Museum, the exhibition arrives at MAO as an Italian premiere — and for the first time ever in a museum of Asian art — with a project of extraordinary visual and emotional power.

Through drawings, photographs, sculptures, and monumental installations, The Soul Trembles retraces Shiota’s entire artistic journey, revealing the poetic strength of a language that explores memory, identity, and the fragility of existence. Often inspired by personal experiences, her works investigate the intangible — memories, dreams, emotions — transforming them into spaces of collective contemplation where matter intertwines with the invisible.

Among the featured pieces are some of Shiota’s most iconic installations: Where Are We Going? (2017–2019), a metaphor for travel and uncertain futures; Uncertain Journey (2016), where skeletal boat forms entangled in red threads evoke encounters and destinies; In Silence (2008), a burnt piano wrapped in black thread symbolising the silence that follows destruction; Reflection of Space and Time (2018), reflecting on presence and absence; Inside–Outside (2009), exploring the boundaries between public and private; and the monumental Accumulation – Searching for the Destination (2021), composed of hundreds of suspended suitcases — symbols of memory, migration, and personal journeys.

Shiota Chiharu, In Silence 2002/2019

As in all MAO projects, The Soul Trembles is conceived as a living organism, accompanied by a rich public programme of performances, screenings, talks and conferences, along with educational workshops for schools, families, and visitors of all ages.

The Chiharu Shiota exhibition MAO Turin is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, featuring texts by Mami Kataoka and Davide Quadrio, contributions by international scholars, and an extensive visual apparatus.

Starting from 19 November 2025, an unpublished work by the artist, The Moment the Snow Melts, will also be on view at MUDEC in Milan as part of the project The Sense of Snow, curated by Sara Rizzo — an installation that uses the transience of snow as a metaphor for human relationships.

Shiota Chiharu, Accumulation - Searching for the Destination 2014/2019

With The Soul Trembles, MAO reaffirms its mission to foster dialogue between East and West, offering Italian audiences an immersive and poetic exploration of the universal language of the soul.

MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale

Date 22 ottobre 2025 – 28 giugno 2026

Fondazione Pino Pascali celebrates its 90th anniversary with two exhibitions and awards the 2025 Prize to Roberto Cuoghi

On 19 October, Pino Pascali would have turned ninety. Fifty-six years after his death, the Fondazione Pino Pascali celebrates the artist with an intense weekend of events in his hometown, Polignano a Mare.

Roberto Cuoghi, A(XLVIIPs)t, 2021 Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer

Two key dates mark the occasion: on 18 October, the inauguration of the Premio Pino Pascali, awarded this year to Roberto Cuoghi; and on 19 October, the opening of the exhibition “Pino Pascali. Dal 1956 ad oggi”, a wide-ranging project dedicated to the life, work, and enduring legacy of one of the most vital figures of twentieth-century Italian art.

The Pino Pascali Prize to Roberto Cuoghi

Established in 1969 by Palma Bucarelli together with Pascali’s parents, the Pino Pascali Prize is among the longest-running and most significant awards in the Italian contemporary art scene. Over the decades, it has honoured artists such as Jannis Kounellis, Vettor Pisani, Maurizio Mochetti, Vincenzo Agnetti, Jan Fabre, Nathalie Djurberg, Ibrahim Mahama, and, in recent years, Francesco Arena and Nico Vascellari.

For its 27th edition, the Foundation selected Roberto Cuoghi, recognising “his ability to merge the individual and the socio-anthropological dimensions in a dialogue of metamorphosis and experimentation that resonates with Pascali’s own poetics.”

Born in Modena in 1973, Cuoghi is one of the most distinctive figures on the international art scene. His work spans painting, sculpture, sound, and installation, exploring transformation and imitation as creative processes. After representing Italy in the 57th Venice Biennale (curated by Cecilia Alemani) with the work Imitation of Christ, Cuoghi presented exhibitions at the Fridericianum in Kassel and with the retrospective Perla Pollina 1996–2016, held between the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva and the Museo Madre in Naples.

Pino Pascali, Algida, 1959-62, Collezione privata, Bari  

Pino Pascali. Dal 1956 ad oggi

The following day, on 19 October at 7 p.m., the Foundation inaugurates Pino Pascali. From 1956 to Today, an exhibition that retraces the artist’s creative trajectory — from his early years in Rome to his period of full artistic maturity.

Set within the museum’s basement galleries, the exhibition features works, documents, stage designs, photographs, and archival materials, offering insight into Pascali’s imagination and personality. The installation also recreates the atmosphere of his studio, with personal objects and tools revealing the close connection between life and artistic practice.

Visitors are invited to revisit Pascali’s early collective exhibitions, his television collaborations, preparatory studies, and the installations that established him as a key figure in Italy’s Arte Povera and conceptual movements.

Through these two initiatives — the Pino Pascali Prize awarded to Cuoghi and the retrospective dedicated to its namesake — the Fondazione Pino Pascali reaffirms its role as a leading institution for contemporary art in Puglia, transforming the artist’s 90th anniversary into an opportunity to reflect on the past, present, and future of Italian art.

Fondazione Pino Pascali Bari

Date XXVII Roberto Cuoghi

18 Ottobre 2025 – 3 maggio 2026

PINO PASCALI. Dal 1956 ad oggi

19 ottobre 2025 – 31 Dicembre 2025

Tate Modern presents the first UK exhibition dedicated to the development of modern art in Nigeria.

The exhibition brings together more than 250 works by over 50 artists, including Ben Enwonwu and El Anatsui, from collections across Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Uzo Egonu, Women in Grief 1968, © The estate of Uzo Egonu, Tate

Spanning the period from colonial rule to independence and beyond, Nigerian Modernism celebrates an international network of artists who merged African and European traditions, creating a unique artistic legacy.

In the 1940s, under British-controlled education, many Nigerian artists trained in the United Kingdom, balancing Western influences with Indigenous identities. Aina Onabolu pioneered modern portraiture, Akinola Lasekan depicted Yoruba myths, while Ben Enwonwu and Ladi Kwali combined European training with local traditions, developing new visions of African culture.

Nigeria’s independence in 1960 inspired an artistic revival. The Zaria Arts Society — including Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo and others — promoted the concept of Natural Synthesis, blending Indigenous forms with modern expression. Lagos became a vibrant cultural hub, with modernist architecture, public art and Highlife music, while in Ibadan the Mbari Club, founded by Ulli Beier, brought together artists and writers such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, linked to the influential Pan-African journal Black Orpheus.

Nike Davies-Okundaye, Animal World 1968Kavita Chellaram. Image courtesy of kó, Lagos © Nike Davies Okundaye

During the same period, new movements emerged that rediscovered Yoruba spirituality. Austrian-born Susanne Wenger founded the New Sacred Art Movement and led the restoration of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. In parallel, the Oshogbo Art School encouraged experimentation among artists like Nike Davies-Okundaye and Twins Seven Seven, who explored local identity and mythology through their work.

The Nigerian Civil War in 1967 disrupted the post-independence optimism, leading many artists to reflect on national unity. The uli motifs of the Igbo tradition re-emerged, reinterpreted by Uche Okeke and members of the Nsukka Art School, including Obiora Udechukwu and Ndidi Dike, who transformed them into a modernist visual language and a symbol of resilience.

Bruce Onobrakpeya, The Last Supper 1981 © reserved. Tate

The exhibition concludes with Uzo Egonu, whose Stateless People series (1980) reflects on Nigerian diasporic identity and the dialogue between cultural belonging and artistic freedom.

Tate Modern Bankside London SE1 9TG

Date 8 ottobre 2025 – 10 maggio 2026