Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation

The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo) is a non-profit contemporary arts institution based in Turin, Italy. Founded in 1995 by arts collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, it has become an internationally recognized venue for contemporary art and a significant cultural presence in Turin. The foundation operates multiple sites and is distinguished by its active commissioning of new works, its support for emerging artists, and its educational programs aimed at broadening public engagement with contemporary art.

The foundation was established on 6 April 1995 by Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, who serves as its president. Francesco Bonami was appointed artistic director and later became honorary director in 2014. Initially, the foundation displayed its growing collection in the family home at Palazzo Re Rebaudengo in Guarene d'Alba. In 2002, it opened a dedicated urban art space in Turin's Borgo San Paolo district, converted from a former Fergat automobile factory by architect Claudio Silvestrin. This building won a gold medal for Italian Architecture at the Milan Triennial in 2003. In 2017, the foundation announced plans for a Madrid venue in Nave 9 of Matadero Madrid, a former slaughterhouse, to be designed by David Adjaye, but these were canceled by 2020 due to structural problems with the space. In 2018, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and her husband Agostino Re Rebaudengo purchased the island of San Giacomo in Paludo near Venice, including three Napoleonic powder magazines from 1810, which has been undergoing conversion into an arts space since 2022.

The foundation's collection and programming focus on contemporary art with particular emphasis on supporting young and emerging artists. It actively commissions new works rather than merely acquiring existing pieces, placing it at the forefront of artistic production. The institution pursues experimental and intercultural projects, collaborating with other institutions to disseminate and promote artists' work. Its educational mission includes adult art courses, family Sundays, student workshops, and cultural mediation services to guide visitors through exhibitions. Since 2007, the foundation has run intercultural projects in collaboration with young artists and local community centers, including programs such as A Vision of my Own (2007-2008), City Telling (2008-2009), and Parole al vento (2010).

The foundation's commissions have achieved significant recognition at the Venice Biennale. Doug Aitken's eight-channel video installation Electric Earth, commissioned by the foundation and shown at the 1999 Venice Biennale, won the international prize. In 2001, Maurizio Cattelan installed a life-size replica of the Hollywood Sign in a garbage dump outside Palermo as a foundation commission during the Venice Biennale. Alicja Kwade's WeltenLinie was another Venice Biennale commission in 2017. Since 2017, the foundation has collaborated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art to produce time-based works, with Rachel Rose and Martine Syms as the first selected artists.

The foundation's primary exhibition venue, the Turin Center for Art in Borgo San Paolo, opened in 2002. Architect Claudio Silvestrin designed this horizontal, minimalist building with concrete walls and narrow vertical openings, converting the former Fergat automobile factory into a 3,500 square meter space with 1,200 square meters devoted to exhibitions. The Palazzo Re Rebaudengo in Guarene d'Alba, an 18th-century building protected by the Soprintendenze as cultural heritage, serves as the foundation's original exhibition site. The planned Madrid venue in Matadero Madrid's Nave 9 would have provided 6,300 square meters. The Venice site on San Giacomo in Paludo, currently being developed, encompasses an island with historic Napoleonic structures.

The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation maintains its headquarters and principal exhibition space in Turin, Italy, with additional programming at Palazzo Re Rebaudengo in Guarene d'Alba. The Turin center in the Borgo San Paolo district serves as the main public venue, while the Guarene palace offers a secondary location in a protected heritage building. The foundation is accessible through its website at www.fsrr.org. Its programs include the Young Curators' Residency Program (YCRP), which annually selects three recent graduates of international curatorial programs to research Italian contemporary art, and CAMPO, a curatorial course for students based in Italy established in 2012. The institution continues to expand its physical presence, with the San Giacomo in Paludo project representing its fourth site.