Torineide Exhibition & Book

Torineide. De mirabile et inaudita exploratione

Taking inspiration from the details of the historical building of Turin and the book of the first adventurers coming from the New World, AA create a parallel world seen through the eyes of Aar Adesten, a fictitious Elizabethan explorer. The city becomes an island to discover and map, inhabited by fantastic animals, insects and exotic plants, and….
the Exhibition was held at Museo Regionale Scienze Naturali (turin, Italy) from 13th May to 27th of November.

to discover more about Torineide
www.andreaaste.com

The exhibition had such a success that the museum decided to let it open till the end of November!

Thanks to Torineide I was selected by Vittorio Sgarbi, who saw the exhibit, at 54° Venice Biennale

The catalogue of the exhibition, the log book with Aar Adesten's ink works and his annotations about the strange plants, insects and animals i found in the New World...

The book is published by The Natural Science Museum, it is a collection of short stories, a fantasy-whimsical interpretation of Turin. 45 Pages.

Wecouldn’t have come up with a more appropriate name for this orchid.“Specula”,what ancient Romans would call a window… yet the word gets itsdeeper meaning from the verb “speculo”,that is “to look at”… and therefore “specula” is theperfect place from which to observe, explore… discover. The flowersof this extremely rare plant are windows. Swarms of insects areconstantly buzzing around them. They wait for the moment when theflower, fully ripe, will eventually open. Then they will rush intoit, disappearing forever. If you get close to it – note that you’llneed to have with you a powerful magnifying lens – you’ll seethat the flower’s a window open on another world, with fields andinsects other than the ones you usually see…
From thelogbook of HMS Lapalisse, by Her Majesty’s Explorer, Aar Adesten.

On asunny day it is pleasant to walk along the city’s boulevards as yougaze skywards. The diversity and symmetry of windows always amazesyou all the time, with every street youturn into. Be they art nouveau or baroque, they have a grace andelegance I had never found anywhere else. It looks as thougharchitects here erect buildings with the sole goal of having a placefor opening windows and glass doors. Yet, if your natural curiositydrives you to get closer and peek at salons, halls, colonnades andcoffered ceilings, you’ll be in for a bitter surprise. Windows willopen their shutters and fly away, others will scuttle away likecockroaches surprised by the light. They are Speculariae,insect-windows. Furtive and bashful as they are, they like to spendtheir days bathing in the sun, forming perfectly orderly arrays,imitating real windows. Nobody knows whether it is a quirk, an oddfreak of nature making fun of humans imitating their shapes or it ifit an evolutional solution dictated by the need to flee frompredators. One thing is certain, though: if you move slowly and yourtread is light enough, and if you manage to get close to them, thenby peering through those windows you’ll lean out onto differentworlds, fragments of emotions, memories of lives gone by, ancientloves…

From thelogbook of HMS Lapalisse, by Her Majesty’s Explorer, Aar Adesten.

Fiction & Reality: an example of how I elaborated the architectonical details of my city.

In theearly hours of day, an intoxicating scentdiffuses in the streets. At first, it’s like a single odd noteemerging from a symphony of homogeneous smells. Bit by bit, then, itbecomes more and more defined. It takes on an identity of its own,not so much because its intensity has grown, but simply because ithas captured your attention, making itself perceivable with an evergrowing precision. Without realising it, you close your eyes and letyourself be enrapture by its nuances… you begin to feel on yourface the scorching and dry wind of the desert. You hear the voices ofpeople far away speaking a language which is not your own, yet youstart to understand it, as seconds fly by. Suddenly you realize thatbuildings have grown mullioned windows with trefoil arches, rugs anddamask clothes hanging placidly from balconies. Fountains gush insquares crowded with people unlike you, wearing clothes of allpossible Oriental styles. If you gaze upwards, you’ll see minarets,and the domes of a mosque and then the crenellated roofs of a haremand a caravanserai with its very high arcades. Your footsteps willtake you to the market as you follow the lead of that intense scent,now dominating over all others. You’ll stop to buy a hot, darkdrink with an intense flavour, and at last you’ll know what thataroma stems from. And as you discover its taste, too, your gaze willfall upon the smiling scarlet lips of the saleswoman and her beautywill charm you… Then you’ll open your eyes again and you’llfeel uncomfortable, still entranced by a vision which you would liketo go back to and live in forever, making it your home. Slightlydisappointed, you’ll set your eye on the city you’re so familiarwith and your mind will go back to your everyday life. Still, whenyou absent-mindedly stuff your hands in your pockets as you walk by,you’ll smile as you find there a stuffed date and a cup…

From thelogbook of HMS Lapalisse, by Her Majesty’s Explorer, Aar Adesten.

Turin Map. Every building and historical place took a peculiar shape dictated by its history and function, thus the skyscraper called "the Finger2 became a man painting with his finger to the sky, the royal palace is a crown, Palazzo Madama has the shape of the king's lover, etc...