S.O.S. Cotton Candy: An Anti-Event in Turin Challenges Art World Conventions

Curated by Clara Madaro and Katiuscia Pompili, S.O.S. Cotton Candy is an 'unexpected anti-event' staged during Turin's art week, critiquing the overwhelming public relations machinery. The exhibition takes place in a secret location revealed only after an 'emergency call,' inviting solitary visitors to engage with art in a space modeled after a Renaissance studiolo. Upon arrival, guests are greeted with cotton candy, evoking a cultural childhood nostalgia. Everyday objects—furniture, newspapers, plants—are transformed into 'amulet-objects' and 'repaired objects,' stripped of functionality to rebel against art's commodification. The show's guiding theme is eros, highlighted by Giuseppina Giordano's 'Romantic Porn,' which reflects on Schopenhauer's notion of nature's deception and desire in both romantic and intellectual relationships. The exhibition features Johanna Billing's installation 'I'm gonna live anyhow until I die,' whose soundtrack includes a Battiato song. Pompili states that the call for break is a necessary self-reflection for the art world, moving beyond noisy social media to restore art's centrality in real life. Madaro adds that the idea stems from the constant emergency mode in contemporary art, where fear of error prevails, and art must reclaim the desire to disrupt habitual conditions of production, knowledge, and sociality.