Michael Rakowitz's First European Retrospective at Castello di Rivoli

The Castello di Rivoli in Turin is hosting the first European retrospective of American artist Michael Rakowitz (born 1973, Great Neck, New York). The exhibition spans over twenty years of his practice, drawing from architecture, archaeology, cuisine, and geopolitics. It is organized into six thematic sections. The show opens with paraSITE (1997–ongoing), a sustainable solution for homeless populations in American cities. Dull Roar (2005) confronts architectural modernism and social utopias through a skeletal structure. White man got no dreaming (2008) addresses architectural failure and ethical collapse. What dust will rise? (2012) features texts on travertine referencing the 2001 destruction of two 6th-century Buddha statues in the Bamiyan Valley by the Taliban. The flesh is yours, the bones are ours (2015) honors Armenian craftsmen who built Istanbul's palaces during the Ottoman Empire. The invisible enemy should not exist (2007–ongoing) reflects on loss, personal memory, and contemporary history. The exhibition concludes with the video The Ballad of Special Ops Cody (2017), which recalls a 2005 incident involving a captured American soldier. The retrospective runs during the Torino Art Week 2019.