Il miglior tempo (The Best Time). Sport in photographs from the historical Turin archives

From 30 November until 10 January, CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia presents the exhibition “Il miglior tempo (The best time). Sport in photographs from the historical Turin archives for Torino 2015, European Capital of Sport”, staged in collaboration with the Councillorship for Sport of the City of Turin and with support from Gruppo Dimensione. The exhibition aims to pay homage to sport and its system of values, symbolically concluding the year as celebrated by Torino 2015, European Capital of Sport.

“Il miglior tempo (The best time). Sport in photographs from the historical Turin archives for Torino 2015, European Capital of Sport” sets out to offer an ideal continuation of the exhibition held in Piazza Carignano from 19 May to 30 June 2015 in which, through historical images taken from football, the world of sports fans was celebrated in its most positive guise.

Drawing on both public and private archives from across the territory (such as the Archivio Storico della Città di Torino, Associazione Amici del Rugby, Società Canottieri Armida and Esperia, Museo Nazionale della Montagna and the Reale Società Ginnastica), the exhibition “Il miglior tempo” reconstructs a truly collective tale, drawing on a vast range of sporting disciplines, and celebrates Turin’s close link with sport.

The title arises from a reflection on what links photography to sport: the relationship with time. In both cases, in fact, time constitutes a fundamental variable in the achievement of the final result. In this exhibition, the relationship between sport and time is explored through a selection of photographic images, putting together a perfect combination between the subject and the expressive medium. The photographs on show are split into 14 sequences each made up of a variable number of shots, making a total of more than 100 original prints. Every sequence corresponds to a specific episode, a story, an event or a character, providing onlookers with the chance to get to know and investigate a series of sporting vicissitudes from the 20th century both in Turin and throughout the Piedmont region. On display we find a range of different disciplines, more or less well known, from swimming to skiing, from motoball to “palla elastica”, with the aim of providing a broad depiction of sport as a global practice.

The arrangement of the images in linear sequences reproduces a sort of cinematographic experience of the various narratives, underlining once again the fundamental relationship with time that links photography and sport. As well as providing the public with access to materials of great historical-documentary worth, the exhibition also brings home the key message underpinning Torino 2015 European Capital of Sport: that of sport as a means by which to transmit values and respect for the rules.

Guided tours for schools may be provided. For information, write to: didattica@camera.to