The 2019 exhibitions

Ample space for Italian creativity recognised throughout the world, with solo shows dedicated to Paola Pivi, Paolo Di Paolo, Maria Lai and Gio Ponti and the focus exhibitions on Formafantasma, Elisabetta Catalano and Enzo Cucchi, in a constant dialogue between art, architecture, photography and design.  

Attention to the international art scene and collaborations with the masterpieces of the IVAM of Valencia and with the group show Tutto investigating the spiritual dimension of art in the contemporary era. Not to mention the Collection, a great protagonist at MAXXI and around the world with exhibitions in Tunis, Rabat, New Delhi and Mumbai.

13 new exhibitions, focus shows and special projects will animate the MAXXI galleries starting with the eighth edition of the established MAXXI Alcantara Project: the protagonists this year are the multiple award winning designers of the Formafantasma studio who, with NERVI in the Making, will be creating a useable space inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi whose archive forms part of the MAXXI Architettura collection (curated by Domitilla Dardi, March 14–April 7, 2019).

Paola Pivi, class of 1971, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1999, will be the protagonist of the first monographic exhibition of the season, PAOLA PIVI. World Record: a site specific, immersive and involving project in which historic and more recent works alternate, with sculptures and installations (curated by Hou Hanru and Anne Palopoli, April 3–September 8, 2019).

3 April will also see the opening to the public of the focus exhibition dedicated to ELISABETTA CATALANO. Tra immagine e performance, investigating the relationship between her photography and performance, proposing portraits of artists (Joseph Beuys, Fabio Mauri, Vettor Pisani, Cesare Tacchi) in the gestational phase of the performative process (in collaboration with Archivio Catalano, curated by Aldo Enrico Ponis, April 3–December 2019).

PAOLO DI PAOLO. Mondo Perduto, in collaboration with Gucci, is the major monographic exhibition dedicated to an extraordinary photographer who published more than 500 images in Pannunzio’s Il Mondo, poetically portraying the Italy of the Fifties and Sixties. The photos rediscovered after more than 50 years of neglect include portraits of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Tennesse Williams, Anna Magnani, Kim Novak, Sofia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni (curated by Giovanna Calvenzi, April 17–June 2019).

AT HOME / A CASA. From the MAXXI Architettura Collections will be investigating the eternal theme of habitation through the works in the collection, from the post-war years to the new modes of inhabiting the planet (curated by Margherita Guccione and Pippo Ciorra, April 17, 2019–March 2020). The exhibition will be accompanied by the focus show TERRE IN MOVIMENTO, which recounts through the eyes of three great photographers—Olivo Barbieri, Paola De Pietri and Petra Noordkamp—the landscape of the Marche region after the earthquake (curated by Pippo Ciorra and Carlo Birrozzi in collaboration with Cristiana Colli, April 17–August 2019).

The museum’s international collaborations continue within the ambit of the project Expanding the Horizon: this time the protagonists will be the masterpieces from the IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) with the exhibition AL NORTE DE LA TORMENTA. From Robert Rauschenberg to Antoni Tàpies, from Bruce Nauman to Juan Muñoz, (curated by Hou Hanru with Chiara Bertini, May 22–September 8, 2019). In 2020 a MAXXI Collection focus show will be staged at the IVAM.

MARIA LAI. Holding the Sun by the Hand  is the major exhibition MAXXI is dedicating to this great artist on the occasion of the centenary of her birth. More than 100 works will be on show, from the early 1960s to her final pieces, including sewn books, sculptures, public works and her famous looms (curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and Luigia Lonardelli, in collaboration with the Archivio Storico Maria Lai, June 19, 2019–January 2020).

Enzo Cucchi, one of the protagonists of the Transavanguardia movement, whose work Porta addormita was added to the collection in 2018, will be featured in a focus show presenting his most recent works (September 27, 2019–January 2020).

Alighiero Boetti, Elisabetta Di Maggio, Yoko Ono, Remo Salvadori and Sean Scully are just a few of the artists featured in the major group show TUTTO. O della materia spirituale dell’arte, which draws inspiration from last work by Boetti, Tutto, and will reflect on those artistic paths seeking an alternative, absolute dimension. The exhibition will include large-scale immersive and involving works and installations (curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, October 11, 2019–March 2020).

GIO PONTI. Amare l’architettura is a major retrospective MAXXI is dedicating to the great architect and designer 40 years after his death, recounting his multi-faceted career (curated by Maristella Casciato and Fulvio Irace with Margherita Guccione, Salvatore Licitra and Francesca Zanella, November 7, 2019–April 2020).