The Polo del ‘900 is a new cultural centre open to the citizens and addressed, in particular way, to the young generations and the new citizens.
In Turin, hosted by the complex of Juvarra in the Quartieri Militari, the Polo del ‘900 is articulated in the palaces of San Daniele and San Celso, which with more than 8.000 sqm hosts a museum, spaces for events, exhibitions and performances, a library, rooms for teaching, a kids’ area, rooms for conferences, an outdoor cinema and a mini-cinema. The Polo del ‘900 is co-designed and supported by Compagnia di San Paolo, Comune di Torino, Regione Piemonte and, at the present moment, 19 Participating Bodies are hosted here, representing a reference points in the historic, social, economic and cultural history of the ‘900 and for the safeguard of the values of the resistance, democracy and freedom.
In a single location, the Polo welcomes together and tells the ‘900 thanks to 9 km of archive and a library always open; it proposes several chances of confrontation and deepening into the subject; it offers specialist advices to explore the 300.000 books, 200 newspapers, an historic newspaper and magazine library, 130.000 photos, 21.000 posters, 53.000 audio-visuals, 400.000 digitalized documents.
The concentration and integration of the archives and the libraries, the plurality of the experiences and expertise of the bodies involved in the project, the will to connect memory of the past and present time, history with the important theme of the present, makes the Polo an innovative subject, not only for a traditional user but also the for a new public and new potential users, whom can have possibility to get closer to the themes of the ‘900 and of the present, through new instruments and new languages.
Particularly significant is the focus on teaching and education: wars, deportations, migrations, racial laws, Resistance, Constitution, rights and freedom are only some of the key words around which moves the offer of the Polo del ‘900. It provides to teachers and students books, documents, digital platforms and meetings with researchers and experts of the field. Several knowledges, which have different languages and instruments, applied through education classes, creative competitions, researches, reading laboratories and walking tours in the city.
The Polo provides its spaces to the community as an interesting frame for events, conferences, seminars and meetings, which can be enriched by cultural proposals, to be hosted in the precious location of the spaces designed by Juvarra.
The Polo is a place with several different identities and a common vision. It places in the centre history and critical thinking as both a subject and a lens through which it is possible to analyse and think about citizenship, democracy, rights and participation.
In the Polo it is possible to deepen and elaborate, read, study, remember, travel, socialize, be inspired, be tested, find answers and also new questions. 900 stories and ways to live them.
Italiano