officine CAOS
international cross-disciplinary hub
for cultural and social innovation
Hello, we’re in Piazza Montale, in the center of Le Vallette district, on the outskirts of Turin (Italy).
We have a dream that is also a desire: we think that culture can put the person, a community, even an entire neighborhood at the center!
We believe this suburb, so poor in public attentions and services, is rich in resources, sense of belonging and desire for redemption.
It’s for this dream and for this desire that in 2002 we opened this space, officine CAOS, an international cross-disciplinary hub for cultural and social innovation, to put ourselves at the service of the many young artists, cultural associations and citizens who, over the years and always more numerous, shared with us a project, a passion, an idea.
What if welfare in the suburbs will start from culture?
Le Vallette district: a former working class neighborhood, born in the 1950s under the pressure of great migration to industrialized northern Italy.
An engine of change
We believe that culture, the one that brings people together, that is for everyone and that makes you fall in love, that culture, can change your life in an instant and forever.
An international hub
for cultural production and social innovation. An inclusive and welcoming meeting place, a space open to all citizens’ proposals, a laboratory of ideas and relationships.
After almost 20 years …
In a lively neighborhood rich in resources, heavily penalized by the lack of facilities and services for citizens. Today, around 12,000 people live there, with a strong sense of belonging and a great desire for redemption.
In the belly of a church in this suburb, in a huge abandoned basement for 20 years, 2000m2 equipped and multi-purpose spaces have been regenerated, with an extremely limited investment and thanks to public and private resources.
Almost 20 years later, thanks to a growing community of tens of thousands of people crossing these spaces every year, officine CAOS is today known locally, nationally and internationally as a center of excellence for cultural production and social innovation . An inclusive and welcoming place, a space open to all citizens’ proposals, a laboratory of ideas and relationships.