Street art was born in the 70s of the last century as a spontaneous cultural phenomenon, without clear boundaries, and as a form of expression that uses public space to give voice to alternative and ephemeral artistic practices: an art that knows how to speak of its own time with immediacy and without filters.

In 2020, the MAO Museo d'Arte Orientale opens up to the contaminations of the contemporary city and, on the occasion of the China Goes Urban exhibition, asked four Turin street artists to propose "murals" inspired by works, themes and subjects present in the permanent collections of our museum. Two weeks apart, Karim, Nice and the Fox, ENCS 18 and WASP Crew will follow one another in the museum's multipurpose room to create their works in the presence of the public, gradually populating the walls with a touch of contemporaneity artistic.

With this project, the MAO invites all visitors to embrace the concept of dynamic art, and promotes knowledge of ancient Asian art through an unusual channel: thanks to current expressive methods, even the youngest public will thus be able to approach the heritage of museum, learning to know and appreciate its treasures.

Roberto Cortese, promoter of the project: ”Since the time of the first graffiti on the rocks, human beings have shown the need to communicate their thoughts through signs and illustrations. A 2D footprint in a 3D world, testifying to life in motion. In recent decades, the phenomenon of urban art has captured the attention not only of professionals, enthusiasts or the media, but also of large companies, mostly interested in incorporating within the mainstream (consequently sterilizing the principle ), any form of communication for their own use and consumption. The basic idea of this project, which sees four pure street artists, was born precisely to dissociate itself from this thought: a return to the origins, a return to the most ancient art, specifically to the ancient oriental art that meets the urban art. In Turin, the MAO is the perfect place to host this event: it is the original place to show the ingenuity and passion of artists who, in step with the times, are not afraid to confront the mastery and magic of the past. "