At MAO Turin, the Third Edition of Declinazioni Contemporanee: Between Myth and Identity
- Redazione
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
At the MAO – Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, the third edition of Declinazioni Contemporanee unfolds: a program of artist residencies and site-specific commissions inviting contemporary artists to engage with the museum’s evolving collection.
Opened on November 1, 2025, the project reaffirms MAO’s role as a space of experimentation and cultural rewriting, where historical objects are reactivated through the gaze of contemporary art.
Curated by the MAO team, the initiative brings together voices from three continents, offering new interpretations of the museum’s heritage and restoring meaning to objects that have long remained silent.
In the Tibetan gallery, filmmakers and artists Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam present a sound installation inspired by the rare fragments from the Densatil Monastery in central Tibet. Once a spiritual and political hub of the Phagmo Drupa dynasty (14th–15th centuries), the monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, its treasures scattered among museums and private collections worldwide.
Through the voice of Virūḍhaka, the Guardian King of the South, the installation evokes the beauty and tragic fate of Densatil, transforming the gallery into a space of remembrance and spiritual resonance.
In the Chinese galleries, Korean artist Sunmin Park presents Pale Pink Universe (2025), a video installation accompanied by a series of drawings exploring the relationship between nature and human intervention through the lens of agriculture and winemaking.
Created during her residency at CastelGiocondo in Montalcino as part of the Artisti per Frescobaldi project, the work intertwines Tuscan landscape, medieval poetry, and cosmic imagination. Inspired by a sonnet by Dino Frescobaldi, Park’s voice recites the English translation while microscopic images of grape particles merge with vast cosmic vistas, accompanied by a composition by Bojan Vuletic. The series of three drawings will enter the MAO’s permanent collection.
Between the Chinese and Japanese galleries, Francesco Simeti presents Description Generale (A Historical Map of the Other), a site-specific installation combining wallpaper, fabric elements, and luminous glass sculptures created in collaboration with WonderGlass.
The work offers a critical reinterpretation of the Silk Roads, revealing how Western imagination has historically exoticized and appropriated Asian cultures. The glowing pagoda-like objects, crafted through both traditional Murano glassblowing and modern casting techniques, suspend between delicacy and solidity, evoking a dreamlike, hybrid landscape.
The opening also featured Tape Music, a participatory performance by Taiwanese artist Lin Chi-Wei, previously presented at Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, and the Venice and Shanghai Biennales.
Part of the project Yue Ji 樂記, curated by Freya Chou, the performance engaged the audience in reading sound scores written on long scrolls of paper, generating a collective, ritual-like chorus that explored the themes of loss, consolation, and memory in dialogue with MAO’s Chinese funerary collection.
With Declinazioni Contemporanee #3, MAO confirms its role as a living laboratory of intercultural dialogue, where history meets technology and the past speaks through contemporary art.
MAO Torino
Via San Domenico 11
Date
1 novembre 2025 - 26 aprile 2026