Lee Mingwei’s performance piece Sonic Blossom– an exhibition with no objects – is an integral part of the new iteration of Buddha10, which will reopen to the public on May 6 radically changed. The link with Mingwei’s piece is especially meaningful and profound, since one of the most important aspects of Buddhismis the practice of compassion and the gift – communicated from heart to heart – the vibrant heart of Sonic Blossom.
The new iteration of the exhibition also features another work by LEE Mingwei: Spirit House, a video documenting the participatory installation by the same name created for the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2022. The video will be on view in the last gallery of the exhibition, replacing Lu Yang’s Moving Gods.
Prana, the site-specific work made by Andrea Anastasio and Stefano Mancuso for the exhibition’s first gallery, will be replaced by Francesco Simeti’s Come un limone lunare: a large, theatrical installation that starts from a series of images of animals, leaves, and flowers to reflect on their perception and on the contrast between the concepts of nature and artifice.
Other works by Simeti (Palermo, 1968) will be on view in the same gallery: the animated video Billowing, inspired by the Chinese painting The Manchu Army Regaining East and West Lianzhen in 1855, and a series of woodcuts distinguished for the use of an abstract, spare mark to depict fires, disasters, and catastrophes with a focus on nature as damaged and wounded but resistant.
For conservation and curatorial reasons, many of the Buddhist statues will also be substituted, including the Seated Buddha with Clasped Hands, which will be replaced by the work of the artist Qiu Zhijie(Zhangzhou, 1969), focused on the contemporary rewriting of the Sutrain different media.
The Japanese gardens will host a new video by Wu Chi-Tsung(Taipei, 1981) titled Drawing Studies – MAO Bodhissatva Guanyin, Ming – Ging Dynasty, which was made filming the work by the same name in the permanent collection, and a new commission by Sun Xun(Fuxin, 1980).
The works presented in the Salone Mazzonis will also be refreshed, with the VR experience of Cave 17 of the Buddhist temples in Tianlongshan, produced in collaboration with Studio QZR and the University of Chicago, replaced by the statue of Buddha Seated in Dhyānamudrā, which will be restored ‘live’ by Doneux e Soci. Visitors will be able to watch the cleaning and restoration of the work, learning first-hand about a process fundamental for a museum’s life that normally takes place behind the scenes and is accessible to few.
This space will also host the site-specific sound commission Oro — Huángjīn, the sound installation composed by Valentina Ciardelli and performed by the musical duo "The Girls in the Magnesium Dress" together with Chiu Yung Chan: an ascetic suite forguquin, double bass and harp in seven micro movements that lead the listener through a meditative journey that contemplates the three instruments as an ensemble but also as individual voices.
The open nature of the exhibition and the opportunity it offers for study of the works in the museum’s collection make the new iteration of Buddha10also a platform for presenting the results of the research carried out by the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale on a few of the Buddhist statues on display. In recent months, this research has in fact revealed some unexpected data that has allowed scholars to identify new possible readings of the works on view.
Finally, the exhibition will be extended to the Mercato Centrale, which will host Co-existence, a sound installation by Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg/Scotch Rolex) curated by Chiara Lee and freddie Murphy, completed by a video by Alessandro Muner.
For the reload of the exhibition the music public program curated by Chiara Lee and freddie Murphy will host Miya Masaoka, Arushi Jain and Evicshen, as well as "Crossing borders", a special performance by Shigeru Ishihara (Dj Scotch Egg/Rolex) and Shyn Hyojin.
Thanks to our partnership with the Istituto dei Sordi, Turin, all the exhibition content will be available in LIS Lingua dei Segni italiana (Italian sign language) and an audio version.
HOURSTuesday – Sunday: 10 AM – 6 PM. Closed MondayThe ticket desk closes one hour before the museum. Last entry 5 PM
TICKETSFull price €10; reduced price €8
