Dipartimento di Studi Storici

Dr. Prette majors in history of cultural heritage at the University of Turin, during which he joins the Erasmus+ project at the University of Murcia. He continues his studies in the same university, obtaining an MA in History of modern art, with a focus on the emilian drawings of the XVII century about Guercino present in the Royal Library of Turin’s collection. During his masters course he completes an internship with Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura of Compagnia San Paolo for the exhibition “Sfida al Barocco. Roma, Torino, Parigi, 1680-1750” at the Veneria Palace.

Museums in an Emergency situation. An international confrontation for the predisposition of good practices of care and conservation for the contemporary museum.

The project explores the contemporary problems museums face and is driven by the willingness to comprehend and understand the organization and positioning, also political, of museums within our country in front of possible critical situations, be these natural or human-made. Moment of social crisis, conflicts, wars, earthquakes and natural disasters have always generated, as a collateral effect, a push towards higher attention to the care of cultural heritage and to a collective necessity to regain a hold of shared goods and roots.

From the one hand, an analysis of critical episodes which involved the European area will be conducted, such as the dramatic consequences of the Ukraine war which have directly involved museums, or the most recent acts of young climate activists who have criticized the ethics and sustainability of museums. The other case of unique relevancy is the one related to the covid-19 pandemic which has suddenly stopped the interaction between art pieces and visitors, key aspect of museums and of heritage which inevitably has pushed museums to pursue important digitalization efforts to re-establish this connection.

On the other hand the project would concentrate on the national situation and on the analysis of planned Italian policies for museums at times of emergencies. Starting from a historical analysis of successful examples of museology in a post-war environment, the cases of Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, and the GAM of Turin, the study wants to analyze more contemporary policies of inclusivity and sustainability enacted by museums in Turin. The project then plans an analysis of italian legislation relative to museums during critical situations in order to unveil the best practices of protection and conservation and the inevitable gaps to be filled, also in relation to foreign realities.

The project hence wants to investigate the new museum functionalities as an institution with a precise social function of trait d’union with a strong identity connotation. This themes opens the investigation on the choices made by museums, both of political-economical character but also directly linked to museology. Three are the foundational concepts to be confronted with in this investigation: heritage, conservation and remembrance.