ED RUSCHA
MIXMASTER
7 November 2015 – 8 March 2016
The Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli continues its research project on collecting and
introduces ED RUSCHA MIXMASTER, an ideal collection made up of objects selected from
Turin public collections and placed alongside the artist’s work.
The exhibition, curated by Paolo Colombo, offers a selection of artefacts associated to the areas
of interest in Ruscha’s oeuvre, in close connection with his artistic research. Each element
coming from Turin collections serves as a historical counterpart to the artist’s oeuvre and in turn
Ed Ruscha’s works become a touchstone and a contemporary metaphor of the chosen objects.
The study on collecting brings to Turin a very unusual exhibition which conveys in the rooms of
the Pinacoteca Agnelli the course of research and reflection experienced by the artist himself.
Indeed, the exhibition showcases what in Turin collections has mostly interested and inspired Ed
Ruscha, together with a series of works mainly coming from his personal collection. Alongside
drawings, photographs and often unknown paintings, kept as a testimony of his work, one may
find objects at times never displayed in Turin museums, the fruit of the artist’s search in local
collections.
The exhibition is divided in different chapters, each corresponding to a room or a dedicated
space, where Ed Ruscha’s works take on a function similar to the music key in a score:
introducing the position of notes and the pitch of sounds. Therefore the artist’s works establish
a relationship with the objects he singled out himself in Turin museums, emphasising the
aesthetic affinities and kinship in content with his oeuvre.
During the exhibition the Education Department of Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
provides a series of activities and workshops for children and adults.
Marco Palmieri has designed the exhibition’s layout, the catalogue was published by Rizzoli.
Ed Ruscha was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1937. He studied painting, photography and graphic art at
Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts). Throughout the five decades of his career he has been linked to the
most significant art movements of our time, from pop art, to conceptual art, to experimental cinema,
though he has always kept his independence from them.
His works have been collected by the main museums worldwide.
Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli Press Office
Carola Serminato | Tel. +39 349 1299250| ufficiostampa@pinacoteca-agnelli.it
via Nizza 230, 10126 Torino
Tel. +39 011 0062713 fax +39 011 0062712 | www.pinacoteca-agnelli.it |
Permanent Collection and Temporary Exhibition
Admission tickets: Adult €10; Concessions €8 groups, over65, memberships; Special concessions €4 schools and
children 6-16 years old; Free 0 to under 6 years old, disabled visitors, Abbonamento Musei Torino Piemonte Members
and Torino+Piemonte Contemporary Card.
Ticket office at the entrance of the Pinacoteca | on Lingotto track level | 4th floor
Opening hours: 10 am - 7 pm – from Tuesday to Sunday | Closed on Monday
Guided tours on request | access for disabled visitors | bookshop
This exhibition was made in cooperation with:
Biblioteca di Storia e Cultura del Piemonte "G. Grosso" - Città metropolitana di Torino
Centro Storico FIAT, Torino
Accademia di Agricoltura, Torino
Collezione Museo Casa Mollino, Torino
Museo di Anatomia umana "Luigi Rolando", Università di Torino
Museo Franchetti del Collegio San Giuseppe, Torino
Museo della Frutta "Francesco Garnier Valletti”, Torino
Archivio del Museo di Antropologia criminale "Cesare Lombroso", Università di Torino
Museo della Radio e Televisione della RAI, Torino
Collezione Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino
Politecnico di Torino, Archivi della Biblioteca Centrale di Architettura «Roberto Gabetti», fondo Carlo
Mollino
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