Alessandro Masetti, “Reframing Narratives Through Contemporary Art at the Museo Egizio in Turin”, in Re-Interpreting and Re-Assessing Difficult Heritage: A Study of Dissonances, edited by Francesca Leonardi, Ginevra Ludovici and Linda Bertelli, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2026, pp. 170–191.
Re-Interpreting and Re-Assessing Difficult Heritage. A Study of Dissonances brings together studies on difficult heritage and on the ways cultural institutions renegotiate their meaning in the present. The volume addresses tensions related to memory and colonial legacies. My contribution appears in the section devoted to the reinterpretation of colonial legacies in museum collections.
Abstract
This chapter investigates how the Museo Egizio in Turin, on the occasion of its bicentenary (1824–2024), has embraced contemporary art as a means of remediation, enabling the institution to revisit and reconfigure its historical narratives. The initiative is rooted in its newly articulated Mission and Vision statements, culminating in the museum’s redefinition as a “contemporary archaeological museum”. This shift invites critical reflection on how museums confront their colonial legacies and engage with current cultural and historical debates.
Building on Jean-Loup Amselle’s reflections on the contemporary museum as a space of critical engagement, this chapter situates the Museo Egizio within broader museological trends. A comparative perspective with the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome, which has recently repositioned itself as a leading institution in decolonial museological practices, further illuminates the diverse strategies adopted by Italian museums in rethinking their identities and responsibilities.
The chapter then explores Museo Egizio’s artist-in-residence programme, launched during the bicentenary celebrations, which invited artists Ali Cherri and Sara Sallam to reinterpret the collection’s narratives. This programme draws on Paul Rabinow’s influential notion of remediation, addressing deficiencies in the museum’s existing practices by introducing a shift in how knowledge is produced and conveyed. Within this framework, the Museo Egizio moves beyond conventional academic research by incorporating artistic practice as a critical tool for re-examining the provenance of artefacts and the colonial entanglements within its collection.