The History

Luci d'Artista was created in 1998 by the City of Turin with the conviction that art should contribute to the common good and inhabit the streets, squares and buildings. An unprecedented and at the time innovative exhibition of contemporary art, later imitated by other Italian and foreign cities. Over the years, some of the greatest Italian and international artists have contributed works that have become part of the collective imagination, perfectly integrated into the urban fabric of the city, of which they are now a symbol. Light installations capable of reaching a large audience. But that's not all: when - towards the end of the 1990s - Turin needed to rethink its identity, presenting itself as the City of Contemporary Art, the Luci d'Artista naturally became the image capable of conveying the message with immediacy.   

The Lights were born as exceptional illuminations to celebrate the Christmas festivities, and immediately became the object of an ambitious objective: to create a public collection expressing ‘a high culture capable of communicating with everyone’, as Fiorenzo Alfieri (Polignano a Mare, 1943 - Turin, 2020) the visionary creator of the project, wrote in 1998:   

A few years ago I happened to read in the Turin newspapers that the shopkeepers would not organise the traditional illuminations for Christmas. [...] I thought to myself: ‘Would it be conceivable for Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt to be left in the dark at Christmas?’ Evidently, in those cities, Christmas lights were not only entrusted to the goodwill of the shopkeepers, but were supported by the public administration as a tribute to the citizens and as a sign of welcome for tourists. As soon as I was appointed councillor for commerce and the promotion of the city [...] I proposed a pact: ‘the municipality will help the merchants who want to illuminate the streets and squares for Christmas, but on the condition that we all work together to put up quality displays in the urban spaces’. It was easy to move from this proposal to the intuition that to ensure the quality of the decorative materials, we could call on the help of our artist friends in Turin. We made the first attempt in the run-up to Christmas 1997. [...] I proposed to Emanuele Luzzati to design a high-impact intervention.    

But every project, in order to continue to be alive, needs to evolve. Luci d'Artista is therefore embarking on a process of mutation of its identity in order to become a true institution dedicated to the contemporary, one that is even more loved and known, open and sustainable, active all year round and not just during the winter months.   

This evolution begins in 2023, on the occasion of the 26th edition, when the City of Turin decides to entrust the management of the project's implementation to Fondazione Torino Musei, which in turn appoints, for the first time in the history of Luci d'Artista, a curator, art critic Antonio Grulli (La Spezia, 1979), to lead the event. Grulli implements the ambitious goal of creating a true institution of artistic research with its own curatorial line, a year-round programme realised thanks to the new Accademia della Luce, Luci d'Artista's Public Program. All this is intended to allow Luci d'Artista to go beyond the city boundaries and express its full potential, to enhance a unique and extraordinary collection, and to succeed in achieving a strong and stable internationalisation of the event.