Ali Cherri.
Returning the Gaze
A book edited by
Paolo del Vesco,
Christian Greco and
Alessandro Masetti
Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
2025
Ali Cherri. Returning the Gaze documents the first artist residency developed by the Museo Egizio in Turin as part of the cultural programme promoted on the occasion of the institution’s Bicentenary (1824–2024).
The volume explores the encounter between Cherri’s practice and the museum’s archaeological collection, reflecting on the possibilities that contemporary art offers for questioning established narratives and proposing new ways of relating to objects and their histories.
The Artwork
As co-editor, in addition to contributing to the volume’s editorial development, I wrote the essay titled “Returning the Gaze. Ali Cherri at the Museo Egizio“, in which I reconstructed the development of the project and explored its main themes within the artist’s poetic.
The installation is based on seven artefacts in the Museo Egizio collection depicting human figures with partially or entirely missing eyes. For each of them, Cherri created bronze inserts that function as ocular prostheses, symbolically restoring their ability to see and, consequently, to return the gaze of those who observe them.
The Essay
The essay takes this reversal of the gaze as a starting point for reflecting on the encounter between the visitor and the museum object, traditionally conceived as a one-directional relationship.
This reading of the artefacts as active presences leads to a critical reflection on the museum. Most of the objects whose sight is symbolically restored nevertheless choose to keep their eyes closed. In Cherri’s interpretation, this choice becomes a critical stance towards the histories of violence to which the artefacts have been subjected and, at the same time, invites reflection on the responsibility of institutions in the way they preserve them and construct their interpretation.
Contents
INTRODUCTION | Christian Greco
RETURNING THE GAZE. ALI CHERRI AT THE MUSEO EGIZIO | Alessandro Masetti
REVIVING THE FRAGMENTS. A CURATORIAL/ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ALI CHERRI’S ARTWORK | Paolo Del Vesco
ART IN THE MAKING | Photos by Nicola Dell’Aquila
ALI CHERRI
Colophon
ALI CHERRI. RETURNING THE GAZE
Edited by: Paolo Del Vesco, Christian Greco, Alessandro Masetti
Coordination: Divina Centore
Translations: Il Nuovo Traduttore Letterario S.C.
Photographies: Nicola Dell’Aquila
© 2025 Museo Egizio
© 2025 Franco Cosimo Panini Editore