Carta Coreana – Hanji
11/12/2021 – 22/05/2022
Museo Carlo Bilotti Aranciera di Villa Borghese
50 artists are working with Hanji paper made at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, the only place in Europe where it is produced. Contemporary art works, painting and drawing but also sculptures, photography and multimedia installations. These artists have tackled Korean Hanji paper, also known as the “paper of a thousand years” for its great strength and resistance, in Carta Coreana, the exhibition project organised by the Accademia di Belle Arti in partnership with the Korean Cultural Institute. The selected guest artists include both young first-time artists and important recognised international artists. They have been offered maximum creative freedom, with the only requirement being that they must take part in the manual production of the paper in the workshop of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, the only one in Europe to specialise in the production of traditional Korean paper, which over the years has become a point of reference for restorers, artists and institutions. The result of this experience are the works on show in this exhibition, thanks to which Hanji paper has become an integral part of contemporary research. The Italian works dialogue with the Korean ones, and a dedicated section displays objects and artefacts that illustrate the multidisciplinary use of this paper in Korea.
Prima, donna. Margaret Bourke-White
21/09/2021 – 30/04/2022
Museo di Roma in Trastevere
An exhibition dedicated to Margaret Bourke-White, one of the most representative and emblematic figures of photojournalism. She is one of the most iconic women in photojournalism, this exhibition shows more than 100 images of the American photographer’s unconventional vision and life. A pioneer of information and image, Margaret Bourke-White has explored every area of photography: From the first images dedicated to the world of industry and corporate projects, to the great reportages for major publications such as Fortune and Life; from the visual chronicles of the Second World War, to the famous portraits of first Stalin and then Gandhi (met during the reportage on the birth of the new India and portrayed shortly before his death); from the South Africa of apartheid, to the America of racial conflicts to the thrill of aerial visions of the American continent. More than 100 images from the Life archive in New York are divided into 11 thematic groups that, in a chronological view, trace the thread of Margaret Bourke-White’s existential path and show her visionary and narrative capacity, capable of composing dense and dazzling photographic “stories”. The exhibition is accompanied by Storie di fotografe e di immagini, a cycle of meetings and discussions open to the public on the themes of photography and female identity.
Ukraine: Short Stories. Contemporary artists from Ukraine
10/03/2022 – 03/04/2022
Museo Nazionale delleArti del XXI secolo
The works are strongly linked to the events that Ukraine was forced to confront in 2014, and to the profound changes that this country – a delicate crossroads between the Baltic and Black Seas, between Europe and Asia – has undergone in recent years. The exhibition features 140 works by young and emerging artists as well as established authors already present in the most important international museums and galleries; said works strongly reflect a society that is still reinventing itself through disruptions, ideological and social changes, and violent conflicts, all while constantly searching for new ways to confront history and assert new artistic freedom. With a range of styles and techniques ranging from optical effects to sculptural landscapes and the magic of 3D technology, the artists’ individual stories become the creative components of a grand narrative of present-day Ukraine. The collection gives an account of Ukraine’s artistic and cultural complexity, thereby offering an interesting, representative and symptomatic cross-section of Ukraine that is still relevant today.
Cao Fei. Supernova
16/12/2021 – 08/05/2022
Museo Nazionale delleArti del XXI secolo
From the fictional documentary to the melancholic love story, from the hyperreal vision of the future to the reinterpretation of history, from the post-apocalyptic scenario to the dream dimension, these artists choose different angles of human existence to share their interpretation of modernity and the influence that technological development has on society. Inspired by the original character of Chinese science fiction, born from the encounter between humans, wonder, the universe and the mysteries of nature, these artists overturn the popularisation of purely scientific or technological concepts to present an often pessimistic vision of the future, and the role played by progress, constantly drawing attention to the present of the community.
Guido Reni and Rome. Nature and Devotion
01/03/2022 – 22/05/2022
Galleria Borghese
The exhibition revolves around Reni’s painting Country Dance (c. 1605), which re-entered the Museum’s collection a year ago. Part of Cardinal Scipione’s collection, mentioned from the beginning of the 17th century in the old inventories, sold in the 19th century, and considered lost until it reappeared in 2008 on the London antique market as a work by an anonymous Bolognese, the painting – appropriately authenticated – was reacquired by the Galleria in 2020. In addition to constituting an important historical, integral part of the Museum’s heritage, its presence in the rooms of the pinacotheca next to the other paintings of the collection highlights the crucial importance of the Borghese patronage for Guido Reni and provides an opportunity to reflect on the painter’s relationship with rural themes and landscape painting, which up to now have been considered “extraneous” to his production. Guido Reni and Rome: Nature and Devotion, through the display of over 30 works, aims to reconstruct – starting with Reni’s interest in landscape painting compared to other painters active in Rome in the early 17th century – the first years of the artist’s stay in Rome, his enthusiastic study of antiquity and the Renaissance, his stupefaction regarding the painting of Caravaggio – whom he met and frequented – and his relations with his patrons. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Marsilio, with texts by, among others, Daniele Benati, Raffaella Morselli. and Maria Cristina Terzaghi: an innovative interpretation of the Master’s work based on a scholarly study of Reni as a landscape painter. With the aim of allowing the greatest possible access to the exhibition and of supporting cultural consumption, the Galleria Borghese has decided to not apply any surcharge on tickets, which thus continues to cost the same, while allowing access to both the exhibition and the permanent collection.
SURREAL GENERATION 