Turin’s ongoing Planet Week offers the city and the Piedmont region as a whole a vital opportunity for reflection on the themes of climate action, circular economy, renewable energy and water ahead of the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment, with youth engagement underpinning it all.
The issues our planet faces — rising CO2 emissions, climate change, global warming, wasteful consumption — are not abstract concepts, but realities with tangible economic, social and political repercussions that beget inequality and destructive conflict over what resources remain. Now is the time to usher in a new paradigm for production and development — one that properly reflects the value of renewable energy, circular economic structures, waste reduction, recycling, green spaces and public health.
To engage citizens in this challenge, Palazzo Madama and the Civic Museums of Turin have organized a large-scale arts-based awareness-building campaign. The “State of Emergency” exhibition at the Medieval Court set the stage, and throughout 2024, a series of additional exhibitions, projects and conferences will keep the momentum going.
For Planet Week and the G7 Ministerial, Palazzo Madama, in partnership with Connect4Climate, has commissioned twenty internationally renowned Italian illustrators to reflect on the most pressing issues of our lifetimes through their work. Each of their creations poignantly visualizes a challenge we are grappling with, bringing the artist’s personal perspective to bear on universally accessible subject matter. These works offer a unique chance for connection across languages and cultures, challenging us to act as one in service of the planet we all share.
The twenty illustrations, along with two works dedicated respectively to Turin and Piedmont, will be exhibited throughout the region, radiating outward from Piazza Castello in the heart of Turin to connect Via Po in the east to Corso Francia in the west.
The illustrators involved, and the topics explored, are: Luca Font, Earth; Manfredi Ciminale, Air; Antonio Zeoli, Water; Elisa Talentino, Fire; Davide Bonazzi, From the climate to the crisis; Martez, The climate emergency; Luca D'Urbino, Uncontrollable Nature; Jacopo Rosati, The territory in history; Anna Pirolli, Adaptation and transformations; Riccardo Guasco, Adapt: a new agriculture; Francesco Poroli, The sustainability of resources; Marina Marcolin, Safeguard water; Ale Giorgini, The circular economy; Margherita Caspani, Recycling; Marianna Tomaselli, Renewable energies; Alice Piaggio, Transports; Alberto Casagrande, Cooperation; Irene Rinaldi, The rights of peoples; Sarah Mazzetti, Collaboration; Giulia Tomai, Inclusion; Francesco Bongiorni, Turin; and Riccardo Guasco, Piedmont.
Continuing through Planet Week, this region-wide experience will drive toward Palazzo Madama’s June 27 unveiling of an exhibition at the Senate Hall of the Kingdom of Italy titled “Change! Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. The Po.” This show and surrounding events will allow for vital dialogue between the Italian public and national institutions such as the Po River District Basin Authority, presenting a powerful opportunity for collaboration and the collective ideation of a sustainable future.
