LUCI D’ARTISTA IN TURIN BETWEEN ART, COMMUNICATION, PERCEPTION AND ENHANCEMENT

Luci d’Artista is a reality born in Turin in 1998 and recognised nationally and internationally as a brand of “public art”. The exhibition, which has developed on the initiative of the Municipality to meet socio-economic needs (to bring again citizens to travel the roads on the occasion of Christmas festivities in order to promote commerce), quickly turned into an event of public art involving artists, citizens and cities in a relationship of mutual partnership. The enhancement of urban places offers a ‘dynamic’ and completely new dimension of the City of Turin to citizens. We analyze this experience and similar initiatives undertaken at Italian and European level (Salerno, Eindhoven, Lyon, etc.), to test differences and/or similarities, identifying analytical and possibly project parameters, in a methodological and systematic vision. Among the comparative examples in the Italian context it is considered the experience of the City of Salerno, substantially different for strategic objectives, cultural choices, artistic approach and developed themes. The group’s findings are aimed both toward critical considerations of perceptual/evaluative character and towards new project outcomes. Particular attention is given to the multicultural objective: to inform, learn, share and enhance, both the existing and the “baggage” of values inherent in different cultures, with particular emphasis on aspects related to the multisensory project.