Temporary Exhibition
13 June5 October 2026

In Game

Art and play from Risorgimento till today
edited by Ermanno Tedeschi

Playing has never been a simple pastime or recreational activity. Over the centuries that the exhibition spans — from Risorgimento in contemporary Italy — toys have performed functions that history has often overlooked: they have taught obedience and rebellion, they have transmitted patriotic values, they have consoled.

IN GAME. Art and play from Risorgimento till today  aims to bring this complexity back to the public through a journey that brings together historic and rare toys, 19th-century dolls, criminal anthropology artifacts, animated books, puppets, photographs, and works by contemporary artists. This complexity was intuited by historian Johan Huizinga in the 1930s, when in homo ludens he argued that culture does not arise from reason or work, but from play, and that when it forgets this, it becomes rigid and empty.

The Turin exhibition project was born as part of Giocare a Regola d'Arte, a traveling exhibition initiative that has already visited Palermo, the MANN in Naples, the MOMUC in Mondovì, Tokyo, and Be'er Sheva. In Turin, it takes on a new and more intense form: the location in the spaces of the National Museum of Risorgimento Italian allows us to establish a new dialogue between historical heritage and contemporary times, revealing how games have actively participated in the construction of the Italian national identity.

Images
from the exhibition

Polychrome ceramic sculpture depicting a little girl with a turquoise-green ponytail holding a duck in a red bowl. In the background, the exhibition hall of the "In Gioco" exhibition in the corridor of Palazzo Carignano, National Museum of the Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
Close-up detail of an art installation composed of a grid of colored tiles—red, blue, yellow, green, white, black—with spherical beads strung on thin metal rods. Exhibition In Gioco, National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
Press conference to present the exhibition In Gioco: four speakers sit at a table with identification cards — P. Vagliani, E. Tedeschi, L. Papotti, A. Bollo — in an elegant room of Palazzo Carignano. National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
Two visitors from behind observe a geometric sculpture in the shape of a child in mirrored steel holding a blue telescope, in the corridor of the Italian Room of the Museum of Risorgimento Italian during the inauguration of the exhibition In Gioco, Palazzo Carignano, Turin. Image 6. Mirror-polished steel sculpture of a child with a polyhedral shape, holding a blue telescope pointing upward. In the background, the exhibition hall of the exhibition In Gioco with a snowman made of playing cards and paintings on the walls. National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Palazzo Carignano, Turin. Image 7 Group of antique dolls in pink lace and silk dresses, with blond hair and blue glass eyes, displayed on pedestals in the exhibition In Gioco at the National Museum of Risorgimento Italian. In the background, the vaulted corridor of Palazzo Carignano with other works from the exhibition. Image 10 Two visitors, seen from behind, observe a large mosaic portrait made with colored tiles that compose the face of an elderly man, a work by Antonio Manziani entitled
A visitor from behind photographs the painting with her smartphone
Two visitors from behind observe a large mosaic portrait made with colored tiles that compose the face of Camilo Cavour. Exhibition In Play, National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
Two smiling visitors examine a white sculpture shaped like the silhouette of Pinocchio, its surface engraved with repeated texts in relief. In the background, the film poster.
Two smiling visitors take a close look at a wooden Pinocchio sitting at a vintage school desk, a sculpture exhibited in the In Gioco exhibition at the Museo del Risorgimento Italian. Corridor of the Italian Chamber, Palazzo Carignano, Turin.
A mirror-polished steel sculpture of a child with a polyhedral shape, holding a blue telescope pointing upward. In the background, the exhibition hall of the "In Gioco" show, with a snowman made of playing cards and paintings on the walls. National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Palazzo Carignano, Turin.
Group of antique dolls in pink lace and silk dresses, with blond hair and blue glass eyes, displayed on pedestals in the exhibition In Gioco at the National Museum of Risorgimento In the background, the vaulted corridor of Palazzo Carignano with other works from the exhibition.
Two visitors, seen from behind, contemplate the large snowman-shaped sculpture covered in playing cards with red hearts and silver edges, exhibited in the corridor of the Italian Chamber during the inauguration of the exhibition In Gioco. National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Palazzo Carignano, Turin.
Overall view of the corridor of the Italian Room of the National Museum of Risorgimento Italian during the In Gioco exhibition: in the foreground, a multifaceted mirrored steel sculpture crouches on the mosaic floor; large-format paintings adorn the walls; along the route, a vintage Vespa, sculptures, and works on paper. Palazzo Carignano, Turin.
Visitors photograph a wall decorated with blue Art Nouveau wallpaper, on which hang four original color illustrations of Art Nouveau scenes with female and child figures in period clothing. Exhibition In Gioco, Museum of the Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
A visitor, seen from behind, observes a stylized red metal rocking horse and, on the wall, a black-background painting with two red equine silhouettes facing each other. To the right, small green sculptures on a shelf. Exhibition: In Gioco, National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Turin.
The corridor of the Italian Room of the National Museum of Risorgimento Italian in a blurry view framed by the white silhouette of Pinocchio in the foreground, with the film poster of
A articulated wooden Pinocchio sitting at a vintage school desk with the lid raised, wearing a gray conical hat and green jacket. In the background, the long, illuminated corridor of the In Gioco exhibition at the National Museum of the Risorgimento Italian, Palazzo Carignano, Turin.
Monumental sculpture in the shape of a snowman entirely covered in playing cards with red hearts and details in sparkling silver, exhibited in the exhibition In Gioco at the National Museum of Risorgimento Italian, Turin. In the background, brightly colored paintings in the corridor of Palazzo Carignano.

Curators

And Ermanno Tedeschi

Ermanno Tedeschi

A curator and cultural promoter with extensive experience in the dialogue between contemporary art and historical heritage. He is the creator of Giocare a Regola d'Arte, a traveling exhibition project that has brought reflections on play as a cultural phenomenon to internationally renowned museums, from the MANN – National Archaeological Museum of Naples to the MOMUC in Mondovì, and from institutions such as the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo to the Negev Museum in Beersheba, Israel. His research focuses on toys as layered cultural objects, capable of revealing the values, tensions, and aspirations of every era. "In Gioco" represents the most accomplished and ambitious expression of this research.

Partners

Made with the support of Sella & Co. Heritage Bank., main sponsor, and of the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, the exhibition was born from the collaboration with the Tancredi di Barolo Foundation MUSLI – Museum of Schools and Children's Books and in particular with Professor Pompeo Vagliani, with the Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology and Luigi Rolando Museum of Human Anatomy at the University of Turin, With the Frediani Collection of Lucca and with the Historical Archives of the City of Turin. IN GAME. Art and play from Risorgimento till today It also has the patronage of the City of Turin and Piedmont region, from the Regional Council of Piedmont and the CRT Foundation. Royal Mutual, Tancredi di Barolo-Musli Foundation e Quercetti are the partners of the exhibition. 

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Press

In-Game Poster Risorgimento Exe
Press release
Download PDF Poster

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