The Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO) in Turin, which opened its doors in December 2008, stands as a beacon of significance within Italy and ranks among the largest institutions in Europe dedicated to the study and appreciation of Asian art. It resides within the storied walls of Palazzo Mazzonis, a grand architectural masterpiece dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. An exquisite restoration effort has breathed new life into this historic edifice, meticulously preserving its ancient structures and embellishments, thus providing the perfect backdrop to showcase the museum's esteemed collection.

The MAO serves as an expansive window into the rich tapestry of ancient Asian cultures. Its galleries, thoughtfully arranged across four floors, offer an extensive array of artworks and artifacts hailing from South and Southeast Asia, including the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese peninsula. Notably, it boasts Italy's most comprehensive collection of Chinese funerary art, spanning from the Neolithic era to the Tang dynasty (7th-10th centuries AD). Moreover, the museum houses displays of both religious and secular Japanese art, as well as artistic treasures from the Himalayan Region, encompassing Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. A significant collection of Islamic art further enriches its offerings. On the ground floor, amidst the Japanese gardens, a dedicated space hosts temporary exhibitions that continually enhance the visitor experience.

The MAO's collection embodies profound meanings and wields tremendous potential. It uniquely positions itself in Italy as an institution that shares the narrative of a dynamically expanding continent. Through its collection and cultural programming, the MAO strives to serve as a platform that fosters international dialogue with the Asian world while concurrently acting as a bridge and filter connecting it to the Western world.

Fondazione Torino Musei conserves and manages the historical and artistic heritage of the City of Torino. The museums part of the Foundation are GAM – Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, MAO – Museo d'Arte Orientale and Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d'Arte Antica. Fondazione Torino Musei is the sole partner of Artissima s.r.l.
The mission of the Foundation is to preserve this heritage, shape research, exhibit and communicate these art collections and historical monuments, making them open and accessible to the public, thereby serving the community.

The Foundation pays close attention to accessibility and education, for children and young people of all ages and their families; it provides support for the development of artistic and curatorial projects on a regional level; it interacts with businesses to foster collaboration between cultural and entrepreneurial players; it defines its cultural contents in relation to a perspective on the world that permits valorisation of its own heritage, programming and exporting its exhibitions.

The Bagri Foundation, established in 1990, is a family foundation driven by curiosity. Its vision to cultivate a meaningful space for Asian culture to thrive, shift perspectives and deepen connections. Through grants and strategic partnerships, the Foundation champions unique ideas that weave traditional and contemporary of Asia. Recent and upcoming projects include Artes Mundi, the UK’s largest art award; Asian Bronze: 4000 Years of Beauty at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, an exhibition exploring bronze craftmanship through the centuries; and Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land, a sensorial exhibition showcasing Indonesian Kamasan paintings and Balinese mythology.

Shigeru Ishihara aka DJ Scotch Egg/Scotch Rolex is an artist from Tokyo. In the early 2000s, he took part in the underground music scene in Brighton, UK, where he became a key figure in the emerging genre of breakcore under the alias DJ Scotch Egg. In 2007 he co-founded the duo Drumeyes with Eda, percussionist of cult Japanese rock band Boredoms. Following his move to Berlin in 2011, new styles and influences, such as hip hop, trap, and dub have been absorbed into his music. Ishihara is a co-founder of the Berlin-based Small But Hard record label, with which he released several musical projects including Devilman (with Bo Ningen and Gorgonn’s Taigen) and DJ Scotch Bonnet & Sensational. In 2016, Shigeru established a pop duo project called Waqwaq Kingdom (Jahtari, Phantom Limb) with Kiki Hitomi of King Midas Sound, expanding his musical palette even further. His most recent works include collaborations with Turkish MC Ethnique Punch (Epic Istanbul) and Shanghai-based artist Gooooose (SVBKVLT). In 2021, under the new alias Scotch Rolex, Ishihara released TEWARI, a kaleidoscopic album produced during his 2019 artist residency with Nyege Nyege Tapes in Kampala, Uganda.

Born in Taiwan and currently based in Paris, New York and Taipei, Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations that allow strangers to explore issues of trust, intimacy and self-perception, as well as one-on-one events where visitors can reflect on these issues with the artist while eating, sleeping, walking and talking together. Lee's projects are often open-ended scenarios for everyday interactions that change over the duration of an exhibition and take different forms depending on the involvement of the participants. Mingwei’s work has featured in solo museum exhibitions at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | de Young; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Gropius Bau, Berlin; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; M+, Hong Kong; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; and Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei. His work was included in the Venice Biennale (2017); Biennale de Lyon (2017, 2009); Liverpool Biennial (2010, 2006); Taiwan Biennial (2008); Shanghai Biennale (2016, 2009); Sharjah Biennial (2019), Biennale of Sydney (2016, 2012); the Whitney Biennial (2004); and in several Asia Pacific Triennials, among other art events.

Born in Shanghai, LuYang is a contemporary interdisciplinary artist based in Tokyo and Shanghai. In his works, which are strongly influenced by Buddhist philosophy, LuYang explores themes such as identity, life, technology, and spirituality. His latest series ‘DOKU –Alone Together’ utilises the artist's digital avatar to contemplate on contemporary issues through the lens of Buddhist wisdom. LuYang uses computer graphics (CG) technology and game engines as creative media and collaborates extensively with experts from various fields, including scientists, psychologists, designers, and music producers. Recent solo museum exhibitions include the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris; Mudec Museum, Milan; Kunsthalle Basel, Basel; PalaisPopulaire, Berlin; ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aros; Kunstpalais, Erlangen; and MOCA, Cleveland. He has participated in the Venice Biennale (2022, 2015) among other major museum exhibitions, biennials, and triennials. LuYang was honoured with the BMW Art Journey, 2019 and received the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year Award, 2022.

Beijing-based Sun Xun was born in Fuxin, an industrial mining town in north-east China. He uses a wide range of materials to create artworks that blur the boundaries between drawing, painting, animation, and installation. In 2006, he founded the π Animation Studio and has received recognition and awards for his exhibitions and animations at home and abroad. Sun Xun’s personal visual language consists of metaphorical images, dark and intense hand drawings, and dreamy narratives. He explores non-linear expressions of time and space, and inquires into fantastical and realistic representations based on his own understanding of society and sociological theories. Recently, the artist has approached new media as a starting point to explore new possibilities in the field of visual arts, in combination with various materials such as newspapers, books, woodblock prints, Chinese ink, and pigment powder.

Sun Xun’s has been featured in solo exhibitions at ShanghART, Shanghai; Mangrove Gallery, Shenzhen; Vancouver Art Gallery (2020); Center of Contemporary Creation of Andalusia, Cordoba (2019); Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai (2019, 2018); The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia (2018); Saint Louis Art Museum (2018); and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei (2017).

Born in New York and raised in London, Sinta Tantra explores the interplay of colour, light and form in paintings and installations that change over time and respond to the exhibition space. Inspired by her Balinese heritage, her work combines geometric and organic forms to create a universal visual language centred on emotional and physical experiences. Tantra's work has been shown in major exhibitions and public spaces including the Folkstone Triennial (2017); Liverpool Biennial (2012); Karachi Biennial (2019); and Southbank Centre (2008). Her artworks are included in renowned collections such as the Government Art Collection, London; the Museum MACAN, Jakarta; the Foundation Louis Vuitton Collection, Paris; as well as various international private collections.

Taiwanese-born Wu Chi-Tsung works with photography, video, installation, painting, and stage design to reflect on the concepts of image production, perception, and interpretation. Combining Eastern and Western traditions and contemporary art forms, the artist draws inspiration from everyday objects and natural phenomena, which he translates into poetic images. He received the Taipei Arts Award, 2003; the WRO Media Art Biennial Award of Critics and Editors of Art Magazines, 2013; the Liu Kuo Sung Ink Art Award, 2019; and was a finalist for the Artes Mundi, 2006 and Prudential Eye Awards, 2015.

Beijing-born Zheng Bo investigates the past and imagines the future from the perspective of marginalised communities and plants. He creates weedy gardens, living slogans and ecoqueer films to cultivate ecological wisdom beyond the Anthropoextinction event. His projects were featured in the Venice Biennale (2022); Liverpool Biennial (2020); Yokohama Triennale (2020); Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); the 11th Taipei Biennial (2018); and the 11th Shanghai Biennial (2016), among other major art events. He has worked with numerous art spaces in Asia and Europe, most recently the Gropius Bau, Berlin; Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon; Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU, Shanghai; Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery; Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Parco Arte Vivente, Torino; Villa Vassilieff, Paris; and The Cube Project Space, Taipei. His works are in the collection of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hong Kong Museum of Art; and the Singapore Art Museum, among others. He taught at China Academy of Art from 2010 to 2013, and currently teaches at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, where he leads the Wanwu Practice Group.

Davide Quadrio is the Director of the MAO Museum of Asian Art in Turin. He has worked in China in the arts and culture for over two decades, curating, producing, and supporting the development of Contemporary Art in China. In 1998, he founded the BizArt Art Center, Shanghai’s first not-for-profit art lab, which he directed for more than a decade. In 2007, Quadrio established Arthub, a production and curatorial proxy active in Asia and worldwide. Since October 2020, he has been a visiting professor at Iuav University, Venice. Over the past twenty years, Quadrio has produced and organised hundreds of exhibitions, educational activities, concerts, film screenings, biennials, editorial projects, workshops, and exchanges both in Asia and internationally, fostering connections with local and global institutions.