Press release
Art and society, photographer Arianna Arcara and the NOPX
wins the C.A.P. 10152 call for proposals of the Compagnia di San Paolo
At the Luoghi Comuni residence of the Compagnia’s Housing Programme for two
months she will be exhibiting Porta Palazzo’s multiethnic society and making a
“family album”.
Artissima 2014 sees the work’s presentation.
Torino, 16th September 2014 – Today sees the start of young photographer Arianna Arcara’s
artistic creation at Porta Palazzo; presented by the NOPX cultural association with the project
called Carte de visite, she won the C.A.P. 10152 residence call for proposals on housing and
homes. In her flat at the temporary residence Luoghi Comuni in via Priocca 3 she’ll be spending
the next two months taking snapshots of the inhabitants of one of the neighbourhoods in Torino
that the Compagnia has been concentrating significant attention and action on. Whoever wishes
can have souvenir photos, passport photos, portraits and family photos taken for free: her
house will be open to the public as a public meeting place, somewhere everyone can go to build
relationships and tell their stories.
“Home is where memory and imagination, past times, and future expectations are held. As well
as being a physical shelter against adversities it is the place where the stories of individuals,
families and communities are built, says Luca Remmert, Chair of the Compagnia di San Paolo
presenting the project. The Compagnia has used the C.A.P. 10152 call for proposals as an
original way of combining social and contemporary art themes, two worlds still too far apart.
Involving inhabitants of the temporary residence and of Porta Palazzo as the main actors of a
“family album” which will become a work of art, fits perfectly in our framework of interventions
supporting contemporary art, always careful to encourage dialogue between sociality and
creative experience as an effective means of improvement of the quality of life in urban spaces
and in specific contexts”
Arcara’s camera won’t be photographing passive subjects but asking whoever wishes to be
photographed
for participation, awareness and the desire to be part of an artistic project. It is in this spirit that,
as well as the photos, Carte de visite includes exhibitions in the neighbourhood’s streets and
photo labs for young people. The project’s central element is in fact the flat in the temporary
residence which the foundation opened a year ago in September 2013 as part of its Housing
Programme. Luoghi Comuni (‘common ground’) is the building which carries in its name the
philosophy of solidarity, social cohesion, and cohabitation which animates it: it hosts people who
are in the city for work, study, family, health or in temporary housing difficulties for up to 18
months for a rate established according to each’s availability.
The C.A.P. 10152 call for proposals is part of the interventions aimed at the system of
contemporary art; as well as supporting cultural institutions, exhibitions, design and calls for
creative young generations, November particularly stands out regarding the contemporary
scene in Torino and Artissima, which will this year feature the work of Arianna Arcara and the
artistic work resulting from it at the Compagnia’s stand in an open meeting on 2nd November at
12.00 as part of the fair’s cultural programme.