Francesco Manacorda

Francesco Manacorda

Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy

According to the philosopher and natural scientist Piotr Kropotkin, ecosystems facing instability and scarcity of resources can survive only when collaboration and mutual support become strategic priorities. How might these principles apply to artistic institutions within a specific territory? This question has guided an ongoing dialog and series of experiments among leading contemporary art institutions in the Turin region.

Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Fondazione Merz, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale, OGR Torino, and Pinacoteca Agnelli have joined forces to develop an inter-institutional alliance operating as a shared cultural ecosystem.

Grounded in shared values and concrete proposals, this initiative explores both the opportunities and challenges of designing collaborative mechanisms. This approach is not merely guided by efficiency and productivity, but stems also from a generative and emotional desire to exceed rigid collaboration structures and open up to holistic, one-to-one or all-together systems. Informed by trust and elective affinities, they naturally bring about a deconstructed collaboration where the will to improve public good, the desire for sharing, the genuine and socially transformative engagement are paramount.

Their collaboration focuses on several key areas: strategic alignment and advocacy, resource optimization and asset sharing, collective negotiation with suppliers, as well as the possibility of joined programming and coordinated promotion. By pooling their expertise and capacities, these institutions aim to construct an innovative model of cooperation – open to the questioning of received rules and traditions – entirely designed to promote sustainability, efficiency, and the creation of greater public value.

In a period marked by shifting cultural landscapes and evolving political dynamics, this network seeks to define a flexible and transparent framework for collaboration – one that enables agility, strengthens trust, and enhances the collective impact of its members. Through these shared values and endeavors, the institutions aspire to move beyond the limits of individual action, demonstrating how cooperation can serve as a powerful cultural strategy for resilience and growth, especially outside of the center, where unity means consistent visibility and powerful cultural and political presence.

Biography:

Francesco Manacorda is Director of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and Artistic Director of Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti.

Previously, he was Artistic Director of V-A-C Foundation (2017-22), Artistic Director of Tate Liverpool (2012-17), Director of Artissima (2010-12) and Curator at Barbican Art Gallery (2007-09).

From 2006 to 2011 he was Visiting Lecturer in the Curating Contemporary Art department of the Royal College of Art, London. He co-curated the 2016 Liverpool Biennial and in 2018 the 11th Taipei Biennial.