Nora Turato Creates Unique Work for the Bathtub

Language plays a central role in Nora Turato's work. The artist collects texts from seemingly banal sources—emails and WhatsApp messages, social media posts, YouTube tutorials, online lectures, museum texts, advertisements, conversations overheard in restaurants. Turato deconstructs this endless flow of messages and uses it to shape her own narrative. Her work spans multiple disciplines, including performances, books, videos, murals, and 2D-works.

For her new work on the mezzanine, Turato examines the impact of language on our self-image, expression, and identity—from how we learn to speak as children to how we constantly adopt the words of others. By combining language and typography, she questions how much control we truly have over how we communicate. For her site-specific work, Turato is developing a custom-made typeface and a script for her own monumental moving billboard. She explores how rhythm, pronunciation, design, and typography influence the power, ambience and character of language.

Rein Wolfs, Director of the Stedelijk Museum: “In Situ is a Latin phrase that literally means 'on site'. In one of the Stedelijk’s unique spaces, a young generation of artists is given the opportunity to create a radical work of art. In doing so, they follow in the footsteps of many memorable predecessors who created work in unorthodox places within the Stedelijk. Think of Dan Flavin’s light installation or Keith Haring’s velum above the monumental staircase, or more recently the series Post / No / Bills featuring work by graphic designers. With the new IN SITU series, the bathtub’s mezzanine will soon become a dynamic playground for artistic freedom.”