The exhibitions not to be missed in Italy during the Christmas holidays

The Christmas holidays are always an excellent opportunity to enjoy your free time in a slower and more relaxed way, dedicate yourself to cultural visits to the city and, if anything, catch up on exhibitions that we have wanted to see for a long time. The artistic offer throughout Italy is really high and interesting, and exhibition projects dedicated to contemporary art stand out with site-specific interventions and engaging works. From Naples to Turin, there are many museums and galleries open during the Christmas holidays: here is a selection of exhibitions not to be missed.

Olafur Eliasson at the Castello di Rivoli, Turin

“Olafur Eliasson: Trembling Horizons and Expressions with fractions” can be visited until 23 March 2023 in the Manica Lunga of the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin. Fluid shapes in movement cross a 360-degree panoramic space along the exhibition path which immerses the visitor in a game of optical illusions produced thanks to mirrors and light projections. The research of Eliasson, one of the most important contemporary artists in the world, investigates man’s relationship with nature and science through their innumerable implications, inviting the active participation of those who enjoy his works.

Marinella Senatore at the Venaria Reale, Turin

Six smaller site-specific light sculptures by contemporary artist Marinella Senatore dialogue with the ancient spaces of the Antechamber of the Valletti on foot on the main floor of the Reggia di Venaria in Turin until 5 February 2023. The works recall the shapes of the Baroque architecture of the hall using one of the artist’s favorite languages, light: “the light sculptures are generators of energy – explains Marinella Senatore – which, in the form of light beams, propagates through space, changing it and modifying its structures as well as the individuals present in it”. Until 8 January 2023 it will also be possible to admire the artist’s iconic and acclaimed light installation, Assembly, in Piazza dell’Annunziata in Venaria Reale.

Sylvie Fleury at the Agnelli Art Gallery, Turin

Pinacoteca Agnelli until 15 January 2023 presents the exhibition Turn Me On, the largest exhibition in Italy dedicated to Sylvie Fleury to date. The exhibition was conceived and designed with the artist herself for the Pinacoteca spaces and includes pre-existing works and new commissions, which cross the fundamental themes of Fleury’s research, in the internal rooms and along the Pista500 of the Lingotto in Turin, which from alone is already worth a thorough visit.

Bruce Nauman at Pirelli HangarBicocca

Until 26 February 2023 it is possible to visit the Bruce Nauman – Neons Corridors Rooms exhibition free of charge in the indoor and outdoor spaces of Pirelli HangarBicocca. The exhibition, made up of various works by the artist already exhibited in the past, offers a reflection on Nauman’s spatial and architectural research. The exhibition includes many of his famous and iconic corridors and rooms, allowing the visitor to explore for the first time in their entirety Nauman’s experiments with spatial and architectural experience, the use of light and sound.

Ballon Museum in Superstudio, Milan

The spaces of Superstudio in via Tortona 27 will be transformed until 12 February 2023 into an immersive art gallery with installations by eighteen international artists and art collectives. The Pop-Air exhibition of the Balloon Museum, after Rome and Paris, has arrived in Milan to give life to a profound reflection, with unpublished and site-specific works, on the new artistic expressions and techniques of interactive exhibitions. The dynamic and playful set-up in the over six thousand square meters of Superstudio intends to involve the public in an innovative emotional experience.

Maria Mulas at Palazzo Reale, Milan

Until 8 January 2023 it is possible to visit the exhibition “Maria Mulas. Milan, portraits of the late 1900s” promoted by the Municipality of Milan for free in the rooms of the Appartamento dei Principi in Palazzo Reale in Milan. There are hundreds of photographic portraits of artists, gallery owners, critics, designers, and other figures from the Milanese, Italian and international artistic and cultural world that investigate the artist’s relationship with the Milanese capital and the protagonists of the twentieth century. Going to Palazzo Reale in Milan is also an opportunity to visit the first retrospective in Italy dedicated to Max Ernst with over 400 of his works including paintings, sculptures, jewellery, drawings and photographs that perfectly narrate his creative parable.

Olafur Eliasson at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

It is possible to take advantage of the Christmas festivities to visit “In your time” the largest Olafur Eliasson exhibition in Italy. Curated by Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, the exhibition brings together a series of works by the artist resulting from his dialogue with the spaces of Palazzo Strozzi. Historic installations and new productions subvert the visitor’s perception of the building which becomes the very tool for creating art. The architectural elements of the Palace, such as windows, ceilings, corners and walls, become the protagonists of Eliasson’s works through the skilful use of lights, mirrors or colored filters. A large site-specific installation welcomes visitors in the courtyard of the Florentine Renaissance palace which transforms itself into a dynamic work of art. The exhibition invites the public to discover and questions the distinction between reality, perception and representation.

Bob Dylan at Maxxi, Rome

Bob Dylan is not only one of the most important artists in the history of world music but also a great connoisseur of visual art. Retrospectrum is the first European monographic exhibition that explores the vast oeuvre matured through his physical and inner travels. His works of art, which range from oil paintings, watercolors, drawings and iron sculptures, trace Dylan’s experience in the field of visual art.

Jimmie Durham at the Madre Museum, Naples

Jimmie Durham humanity is not a completed project is the first retrospective exhibition in Italy on the multifaceted artist and brings together over 150 works, some of which have never been exhibited, by Durham on the foundations of European and North American culture. In over fifty years of Durham’s career, through the use of natural and industrial materials, he has critically decoded the images and symbols of the dominant cultural systems. The exhibition at the Madre Museum offers a complex and complete look at the artist’s work, which is fundamental for understanding contemporary art and its possible future scenarios.

Bill Viola in the Carminiello Church in Toledo, Naples

Considered the father of video art, Bill Viola returns to exhibit his video installations in Naples in an exceptional space. The Church of the Carminiello in Toledo has reopened to the public to exhibit Viola’s works that involve the viewer with images and sounds using cutting-edge and precision technologies. Bill Viola. Back to life includes five video works by the artist which allow us to explore his creative intensity and at the same time to discover a hidden jewel of Naples usually closed to the public.