Hilario Isola's 'I dormienti' public art in Guarene honors partisans

Hilario Isola (Turin, 1976) installed 'I dormienti' in Guarene, a public artwork featuring fragmented faces of six local partisans embedded in a brick wall that replaced an unsightly concrete barrier. The project was part of the 'Distruzione' call promoted by Fondazione CRC. Isola had previously experimented with similar sleeping faces in 2018 at the Pieve di Cortemilia during the Via del Sale event. Guarene has a strong contemporary art tradition, including ceramics by Felice Casorati and Ugo Nespolo, and hosts the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudenga, which opened two exhibitions on October 2: the group show 'Waves Between Us' from the 14th Young Curators Residency Programme curated by Alison Karasyk, Camille Regli, and Katie Simpson, and a solo show by Tarek Lakhrissi curated by Bernardo Follini. Isola's intervention also included a workshop with students from Liceo Artistico Pinot Gallizio in Alba, who created their own 'dormienti' self-portraits, later shattered and mixed, displayed in the town hall portico. Historian Giovanni De Luna spoke at the event, linking the work to the Resistance and national rebirth.