Exhibitions, Talks and Tours: Art at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2022

The event organized from September 22 to 26 will feature a series of activities focused on art and artists

Not just food, but also art: This year the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto program will be graced by a host of activities based on the dialog between the world of art and the world of food and wine. The biggest international event dedicated to good, clean and fair food, this year returning to an open-air venue in Turin from September 22 to 26, will include guided tours, workshops and talks with artists and curators. The event will be held for the first time in the Parco Dora and will be free to attend.

 At 6pm on Saturday September 24 at the Castello di Rivoli, Edward Mukiibi, the newly elected president of Slow Food, will be in conversation with artist Otobong Nkanga, one of the most important international artists working today. The Nigerian visual and performance artist will be also be talking at 5pm on Sunday September 25 as part of the event Regeneration Through the Lens of Contemporary Art with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director of the Castello di Rivoli contemporary art museum, held at the Arena Berta Cáceres. The meeting will touch on the theme of regeneration and how contemporary artists can play a role in tackling the immense challenges that characterize our current era, making available their capacity to interpret the times in which we are living, imagine the future and transform thoughts and visions into expressive forms with great impact.

 On display in the external area of the Environment Park and viewable every day from September 22 to 26, the photo project Slow Food Heroes celebrates the virtuous and inspiring solidarity initiatives linked to food that have sprung up in Europe in response to the Covid-19 emergency. The featured photographs and accompanying voices tell the stories of those who never stopped, but carried on during the crisis with great courage and humanity. Some showcase the creativity of individuals, while others the ceaseless work of Slow Food communities and others. The project is funded by the European Cultural Foundation with support from the Fondazione Crc.

Measuring How Much We Take from Nature: The Ecological Footprint of Food is the title of the free exhibition being held from September 22 to 26 in the GTA – Giovani, Turismo e Agricoltura space. Focusing on our environmental impact, it looks at the production of goods and services and how with our food choices every one of us can make a difference, for humanity and for future generations. With the Foodnected project, the associations and NGOs Slow Food, Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE), Global Footprint Network, GOB Menorca, MSJA, Yolda, Alliance for Mediterranean Nature & Culture and CZIP are promoting the transition towards sustainable fair food systems in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Stefano Tallia, a journalist from Turin and president of the Order of Journalists in Piedmont, is the photographer behind the free exhibition All the World Is a Market, located along the route between Parco Dora and the Environment Park and open from September 22 to 26. According to Tallia, markets encapsulate all the essential elements of a place: people buying, selling or simply passing by and taking in the colors and smells, foods that recount cultures, climates and customs. Food can also be an indicator of the health of a place, its freshness and the care with which it is conserved revealing much. Other things are sold at markets too, whether tourist trinkets or basic household items. Then there are markets that have become symbolic of something more important, like the Markale in Sarajevo, where massacres in the 1990s marked a tragic nadir in the city’s siege, or the Hebron market, whose metal grilles are a visible representation of the city’s division. Showing markets in a photographic exhibition is like crossing a long bridge which unites every corner of our planet. Because the world, deep down, is a market.

Every day from September 22 to 26, the Parco Dora Street Art Tour will offer an immersive journey around the murals found in this post-industrial area. The tour will begin in the Sacro Volto church and proceed through the 400,000 square meters of parkland, most of which has been restored since the closure of the steelworks which used to operate here. It will pass through the sites of the former Fiat and Michelin factories, where the metalwork for the Mole Antonelliana, Turin’s most recognizable landmark, was manufactured. This is a constantly-evolving street art gallery, where both local and international artists exhibit their work. The park also contains a skate ramp, a basketball court and playgrounds, meaning there’s often a live audience for the artists as they work. The tour will end in Borgata Tesso, a working class neighborhood built in 1877 that hosts an augmented-realty project, MAU. It will also take in Spina 3, a new site for redevelopment in the neighborhood.

 At 6pm on Saturday September 24 the exhibition Pomodori #ThePowerOfTomatoes at Turin’s MAU  – Museo di Arte Urbana di Torino gallery has been organized in collaboration with the Fucina Campidoglio project. Open until November 5 and curated by Edoardo Di Mauro and Francesca Nigra, the exhibition features fruit and vegetable still lifes produced by the MBAG duo of Margherita Bobini and Andrea Gritti. The staging is by Alberto Garino.

The complete program for Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2022 can be found here.

 Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is organized by the City of Turin, Slow Food and the Piedmont Region, with the patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Anci. The event has been made possible by the support of companies who believe in the values and objectives of the event, including the Main Partners: Iren, Lavazza, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pastificio Di Martino, QBA – Quality Beer Academy by Radeberger Gruppe, Reale Mutua and UniCredit. With the support of Consulta delle Fondazioni di Origine Bancaria del Piemonte e della Liguria, Fondazione Compagnia di Sanpaolo and Fondazione CRT.