The Pantagruel Syndrome by Francesco Bonami

In the pleasant company of The New Museum's Trevor Smith (a triennial correspondent) and his friend Arani Bose (working, by phone, on a breakthrough in stroke treatment and running his two galleries, in Chelsea and New Delhi), we crisscrossed the city, making it to three other venues before hiking the long way up to Rivoli at dusk. Left: Architect Massimiliano Fuksas, Turin mayor Sergio Chiamparino, and “T1” curator Francesco Bonami. The next stop was the “Sala Settoria” at the Anatomia Patalogica dell'Université, where Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook was scheduled to deliver a lecture on death to eight corpses lying “in state.” One almost wants a palate cleanser between such experiences, as it can be difficult to move straight from, say, Takashi Murakami's anime-influenced sculptures to something of such a fundamentally dissimilar mood. At the foundation I spotted a few interesting worksJeppe Hein's lightning benches were fun and Ryan Gander's video installation was hauntingbut there was still much to see elsewhere, so we hurried off. Appropriately, the triennial’s inaugural theme, “The Pantagruel Syndrome,” was centered on the “consumption” of art: the constant hunt, the “swallowing” of large amounts on these weekend jaunts, and the hasty digestion of new works and new names.Īs the venues were scattered, I joined a core of out-of-town visitors, jumped a shuttle, and started at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, where artists, curators, and other VIPs gathered for a quick, casual lunch. Besides, foodies will know that it's truffle season, reason enough for a trip to Piedmont.

Organized by two accomplished curators (Castello di Rivoli's Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Francesco Bonami from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago), staged at three museums and four additional venues, and involving ten “international correspondents” (consultants who offered suggestions to the curators) and seventy-five more-or-less young artists, the show provoked great expectations. “T1,” yet another large-scale international periodical exhibition, opened in Turin last week in conjunction with the ARTissima fair. Right: Artist Susan Philipsz and curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist. Left: Takashi Murakami, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, and Maurizio Cattelan.

The Pantagruel Syndrome by Francesco Bonami