CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: I'm definitely coming
when the situation is done.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: [LAUGHS]
Hi.
I am Marco Guglielminotti Trivel.
I am the director of the MAO, the Museum
of Oriental Art in Turin.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: So you are on your own in the museum.
There is also a palace from the 17th century.
And it also gathers art from 6,000 years of history.
And so what does it feel like?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Well, I
think I feel comfortable.
I'm quite used to being alone in a museum.
I worked in this museum especially for 13 years.
I helped creating the museum itself.
And especially while creating the museum,
you are often alone with all these objects
scattered everywhere.
I feel very at ease with this kind of environment.
I think I can feel something different from the objects.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Do you have a work
that you would like to share with us?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Well, I have a lot.
I think that while we speak, we can move forward,
upstairs to the permanent exhibition area.
The building's from the 16th century.
But most of what you can see is the 18th century, actually.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Yeah, that's
a nice home that you're in for the containment.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: So the exhibition starts here.
We are in the Palazzo Mazzonis.
And you see here, you see the first object is a big, huge--
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: It looks incredibly huge, yeah.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: It's 4 or 5 meters high.
And it's a drape, something that you
can use as a hanging on the walls, like a tapestry.
And it's Chinese.
Very well preserved in the main hall.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Wow.
Yeah, so it might not be too hard to be on your own here.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: [LAUGHS]
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: I was thinking
about museums and paintings, for me, especially,
are open windows on the world.
You can travel by looking at the work.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: It's very funny
when you hear the conversation between the people
in the museum.
They say, where are you?
Oh, I'm in China.
Oh, I'm in Japan.
Yeah, I'm coming to Himalaya, and so forth.
So it's very funny that you can move
through different countries, different cultures.
Because of the objects, because they can talk to you,
it can bring you to different worlds.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Yeah, you are probably
the less isolated in the end.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Yes, we're not really isolated.
We are in touch with most of Asia, at least.
[LAUGHS]
So I bring you to the object that I wanted to show you, OK?
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Yeah, thank you.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: OK.
We are moving here to the Chinese section of the museum.
I'm just going to show you one little piece of art that
is very interesting anyway.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Also, the sound.
I mean, I can hear you walking.
That sounds really nice.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Actually, I can show you.
I'm walking on a 17th century floor.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: I almost can tell from the noise.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: So here we are.
I don't know if you can see the guy clearly.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Why do you like this one especially?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Well, I
like this one because of the gaze, which
is very strong, very intense.
And I like it because it's a mysterious stranger, not only
because it covers its mouth and its nose,
but because nobody can say exactly who is he.
What is he doing?
Why is he having this strange posture?
Nobody knows, because some pieces are missing maybe.
The basement on which he was originally is missing.
But in my opinion, I mean, the explanation is simple.
I think it might be a foreigner, I
mean, a Caucasian, who was traveling on the Silk Road.
And he was covering his face with a mask because
of the sand, powder, and whatever.
And he was sitting on a side.
You could see people sitting like that on camels
or on carts in Central Asia.
So I think it's not far fetched to say that he is
a traveler along the Silk Road.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: I always have
the same pleasure of being amazed
by mysterious pieces in museum.
You know, we don't really know much about it,
but it becomes so famous because of it sometimes.
It's really enjoyable, these mysteries.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I like it because it's mysterious.
[LAUGHTER]
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Could you show us and share with us
the star of the museum please?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: This way.
Yeah, here we are.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Oh, wow.
[LAUGHTER]
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Say hi to our biggest statue.
I must say that it's difficult for me
to select one star of the museum.
I would like only to say this one is
one of the important pieces.
You can see, it's very big.
It's 2 meters and 30 centimeters high.
And he is from the 13th century, Japanese.
He is one of the two guardians of the entrance of the Buddhist
monastery.
So when you enter a Buddhist temple,
you will meet two of these guys, one on this side,
and the other one on the other side of the entrance.
And they protect the temple, of course.
And the posture is a little to the back, no?
Like, he is protecting himself somehow.
And the other one, that we don't have,
unfortunately, would have the open mouth
and a posture lolling forward.
The open mouth means ah.
The shut mouth means hum.
Ah, hum, om.
It's the first and last syllable of the Sanskrit alphabet.
It's om, the whole, everything.
So it means that these two statues,
they were protecting the temple from every possible threat.
And also, it's very interesting to see that it is made of wood.
Of course, you can see it very clearly.
And it's jointed wood.
It's not one piece.
And it's hollow inside.
You see the special construction that
was employed by the Japanese sculptors.
So it's very interesting.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Yeah, it's beautiful.
It really is.
Next will be-- the visitors often follow the same path
in a museum.
So could you show us maybe a different point
of view of the palazzo?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Oh, OK.
But you must be patient because I have to move around
the other way of the gallery.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: I can wait, because it's
the first time I'm outside of my apartment in two weeks.
So--
[LAUGHTER]
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Yeah, so I show you around.
I can show you outside if you want.
No.
No, we are southern-- here, Southern Asia
and Southeast Asia.
So this is India.
We have Cambodia and Thailand and Myanmar.
Then we are going straight to Thailand, the last one.
So usually, people, they stopped here, of course,
because it's closed.
But this is a point of view that you cannot have in the museum,
actually.
And you look straight to the one Buddha
head, of the very early Indian Buddha
head of red sandstone over there,
but from behind a Thai Buddha.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: So now we can
see the public from the art itself point of view.
I think that may be my last question.
Is there a museum or a place in the world that you
would love to visit alone?
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: A museum
that I would like to visit alone.
All of them.
I think if you go to a museum alone,
you feel the story and the power of these objects
more than with a lot of crowd around you.
They distract you too much, and you can--
only this way you can concentrate on the object
and let them speak their language.
Because they have a language.
You must only find a way to crack the code.
CHRISTOPHER MICHAUT: Yeah, I mean, I can imagine.
For myself, usually I put music on so I
can feel like I am isolated, I mean, on my own,
and to appreciate the works alone.
But for now, I can enjoy it them really alone with you.
And that's amazing.
Thank you very much.
MARCO GUGLIELMINOTTI TRIVEL: Bye.
Bye, Christopher.
Thank you so much.
[MUSIC PLAYING]