Time Square: Vintage Signs and Art Collide at Flashback Habitat in Turin

Curator Alessandro Bulgini has organized 'Time Square' at Flashback Habitat, a sprawling art space in Turin's pre-hill greenbelt. The exhibition juxtaposes ancient, modern, and contemporary artworks with iconic advertising signs from companies like Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Fiat, Lancia, Renault, Shell, Tamoil, Esso, Eni, Rolex, Michelin, and McDonald's. The signs were sourced from Roberto Spiccia's Unicable Service in Caselle Torinese, a firm specializing in artist lights and advertising signs. Bulgini was inspired by Andy Warhol's quip that his favorite thing in Florence was McDonald's. The 16 rooms each feature a different color scheme designed by architect and interior designer Paolo Genta, who deliberately moved away from the white-wall trend. Highlights include Giorgio de Chirico's 'Piazza d'Italia – Malinconia' (1949) paired with a McDonald's sign, Attic red-figure ceramics next to an ENI sign, and Giovan Angelo del Maino's 'San Rocco' dialoguing with the Shell conch. In Room 2, Sandro Vacchetti's 'Signorina Grandifirme' statuette (1937-38) from the Giuseppe and Gabriella Ferrero collection—partially donated to the Musei Reali di Torino—faces a Peugeot lion. Room 11 pairs Gabriele Basilico's 1991 photo of war-torn Beirut with a Tamoil sign, referencing the company's North African and Middle Eastern roots and Lebanon's past as the 'Switzerland of the East.' The exhibition runs at Flashback Habitat in Turin.