Present Archives. Riflessioni a partire da un fondo di stampe. Reflections from a collection of prints

What use can we make today of a prints collection dating between the 16th and 19th century housed in a library storage room? What does it tell us of the periods in which it was created, preserved and reorganised? How can this information relate to the contemporary? Can an artist re-enact shared scenarios emphasising what of the old persists in the present? This publication collects three years' work within present_continuous, project aimed at enhancing a collection of prints housed at the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria in Turin. A still rather unexplored point of excellence in the institution's holdings, which was organised in albums in the 1860s by the eclectic Piedmontese collector and connoisseur Giovanni Volpato. The project includes a cataloguing campaign, a symposium whose purpose was to renew the contemporary perception of the archive and in an international call was opened in order to select two artists - Alessandra Messali and Ryts Monet (Enrico De Napoli) - for a residency program dedicated to creating new perspectives, right from the collection of print, trying to voicing the social and cultural issues of our time.