In yesterday's post we looked at a space that will be transformed into an emergency facility for Coronavirus patients, the Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR) in Turin.
In two weeks' time there will be a hospital in its spaces, but the Officine are currently open…on the Internet. Visitors can check the site of the venue or its social channel – from Facebook to Instagram and YouTube – and learn more about the history of the space, or look at images, videos and previously unpublished materials about some of the previous installations at the OGR.
The section "How exhibitions come to life" takes visitors behind the scenes of some of the events with brief YouTube interventions in which Artistic Director Nicola Ricciardi recounts how they dealt with specific problems during certain exhibitions and how they found solutions.
This secret session of discovery starts with two permanent installations, William Kentridge's "Procession of reparationists", located in the Eastern yard of the Officine, and Arturo Hererra's mural that separates the Lounge from the Northern area of the OGR.
Kentridge's 13 large metal silhouettes are inspired by photographs of the railway workers at the OGR and in the factories in the North of Italy and are based on his sketches. The works were sent from South Africa to Italy by boat, but, when they arrived the organisers realised the lighting system didn't do any justice to the installation and they spent a week resizing the lamp-posts.
Herrera's monumental murals entitled "Track" was made in just three days after some nasty last minute problems: the mural consists in an intricate abstract woven pattern representing railway lines and paths intersecting and reaching out towards other directions.
But the tape that Herrera and his collaborators were applying to the wall to trace the countour of the mural kept on peeling off the wall. The intuition of a worker saved the day, making sure the tape stuck to the wall as desired.
The main aim of these short lessons about how an exhibition is done is to keep in touch with visitors, while reminding them that installations and art events involve a large number of people and not just a curator or art director.
So, for the time being, visitors will have to enjoy the OGR digitally with these sessions, but hopefully its permanent installations will accompany and encourage the medical staff and the patients who will be using its spaces converted into a Covid-19 hospital.
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