MAXXI: a photo story

MAXXI: a photo story

Twenty photographers describe the realization of the greatest Italian contemporary art museum. A photo-essay from Rome

A non-conventional picture-story at MAXXI from 15 December 2010 to 6 March 2011 (curated by Francesca Fabiani): from the photographs taken in 2004 that document the first excavations for the MAXXI foundations to the evocative aerial views realised in 2009 with the museum finally complete.

The exhibition is a visual itinerary explored through a selection of around 100 photographs that include the sequence by Olivo Barbieri in which he reveals the vastness of the building and the limpid images of Gabriele Basilico, capable of "lending order" to the chaotic material of the site. There are also shots by landscape masters such as Giovanni Chiaramonte and Guido Guidi. The visionary gazes of Antonio Biasiucci describe a place already full of memories, while the research of Ramak Fazel concentrates on the portrait and recounts the identity of the protagonists of the site. The photographs of Raffaella Mariniello take the landscape into the dreamlike dimension of the fantastic, while those of Patrizia Bonanzinga provide an abstract reading of the site. The most authentic spirit of the photograph as reportage is represented by the work of Gianni Berengo Gardin: his apparently simple images, stripped of all artifice, are never banal and never prevail over the life they propose to narrate.

Gianni Berengo Gardin: MAXXI, 2007, cm. 24 x 30. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Gianni Berengo Gardin: MAXXI, 2007, cm. 24 x 30. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Paola De Pietri: MAXXI, April 2005, C-prints, cm. 40 x 70 o 70 x 40. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Paola De Pietri: MAXXI, April 2005, C-prints, cm. 40 x 70 o 70 x 40. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Ramak Fazel: MAXXI, April 2006, C-prints, cm. 55,5 x 50. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Ramak Fazel: MAXXI, April 2006, C-prints, cm. 55,5 x 50. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Giovanni Chiaramonte: MAXXI, June 2006, digital colour prints mounted on forex, cm. 50 x100. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Giovanni Chiaramonte: MAXXI, June 2006, digital colour prints mounted on forex, cm. 50 x100. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Gabriele Basilico: MAXXI, 2009, cm. 51 x 61. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Gabriele Basilico: MAXXI, 2009, cm. 51 x 61. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Olivo Barbieri: MAXXI, June 2006 (10 images), 10 C-prints (sequence), cm. 30 x 20. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Olivo Barbieri: MAXXI, June 2006 (10 images), 10 C-prints (sequence), cm. 30 x 20. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Raffaela Mariniello: MAXXI, 2006, C-print, cm. 98,9 x 99,9. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI
Testo alternativo Immagine Raffaela Mariniello: MAXXI, 2006, C-print, cm. 98,9 x 99,9. Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

Giorgio Andreotta Calò: looking through the window

The winner of this year's Italian Contemporary Art Prize — assigned by MAXXI to promote new talents in the contemporary scene — forges intense relationships between the things linked to a specific space. An art report from Rome by Martina Angelotti

Transitions: three photographers in Delhi

On display at the British School at Rome, the work of photographers Bharat Sikka, Dhruv Malhotra, Madan Mahatta documents the evolution of Delhi in the last sixty years — from a colonial metropolis to today's sprawling global megalopolis. A photo-essay from Rome

Cini Boeri: Designing is a joy, but also a commitment

Words like commitment, responsibility, optimism and passion define this Milanese architect and designer, who discusses her fifty year-long career this evening at the MAXXI. An architecture report from Rome by Margherita Guccione

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