Image: Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin
VALIE EXPORT’s monumental bronze sculpture ‘Die Doppelgängerin’ (2010–22) is being presented for the last time on the Pista 500, the former FIAT test track on the roof of Turin’s Lingotto complex. Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli announced the final viewing opportunity in a September visitor update, but has not specified a removal date or stated where the work will go next.
The sculpture depicts two enormous scissors intertwined with one another. Its title refers to the German word ‘Doppelgänger’, meaning “double,” while the work uses a feminine form of the term. According to the Pinacoteca’s description, EXPORT enlarges an ordinary household object to confront the traditional cultural motif of the double and propose a new monument dedicated to it in feminine form.
Installed outdoors on the Pista 500, the work occupies a site closely associated with the industrial history of Turin. The rooftop track forms part of the Lingotto complex, which visitors reach through the Pinacoteca Agnelli’s museum premises or through the complex itself. The Pinacoteca’s permanent collection is housed in ‘The Scrigno’, a suspended structure on the roof designed by Renzo Piano, while the Pista 500 provides an open-air setting for art alongside the former automotive infrastructure.
The announcement places ‘Die Doppelgängerin’ within the Pinacoteca’s broader combination of collection displays, temporary exhibitions and rooftop projects. The museum’s permanent collection comprises 25 works donated by Giovanni and Marella Agnelli, including paintings and sculptures associated with artists such as Canaletto, Antonio Canova, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Giacomo Balla. The institution presents the collection and the Pista 500 as connected parts of its visitor experience at Lingotto.
During the same September period, the Pinacoteca’s visitor information lists the Pista 500 as open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Tuesday through Sunday, with last access 30 minutes before closing. The museum advises visitors to consult its visit page for updates concerning temporary closures. From September 19 to October 28, the newsletter also announced a reduced €6 ticket covering the permanent collection and the Pista 500, although the announcement did not identify this offer as a separate presentation of EXPORT’s sculpture.
‘Die Doppelgängerin’ is accompanied in the newsletter by a photograph credited to Sebastiano Pellion di Persano. The Pinacoteca’s notice gives no further exhibition dates for the sculpture beyond the statement that this is the final opportunity to see it on the Pista 500.
