Francesco Manacorda Appointed Director of Castello di Rivoli in Turin

Francesco Manacorda will become the new director of Castello di Rivoli in Turin, replacing Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev who retires at the end of the year after seven years. Manacorda previously directed the V-A-C Foundation in Moscow, where he resigned shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The foundation's Renzo Piano-designed arts centre had opened just two months before the invasion, and artist Ragnar Kjartansson pulled his exhibition the day after the attack. V-A-C founder Leonid Mikhelson, a Russian billionaire, has since been sanctioned by Western governments. Manacorda cited changed labour and personal conditions in his resignation to TASS. Prior to Moscow, he was artistic director of Tate Liverpool (2012–2017), director of Artissima fair in Turin (2010–2012), and curator at Barbican Art Gallery (2007–2009). He co-curated the 2016 Liverpool Biennial and the 2018 Taipei Biennial. Christov-Bakargiev joined Castello di Rivoli as chief curator in 2002 and became director in 2016. She is known for leading dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012, the 2015 Istanbul Biennial, and for initiatives at the museum including the Cerruti collection acquisition and using the museum as a vaccination site during the pandemic.