Starting in the 1960s, it was the artists who believed that the road was the modern intellectual, social and political battlefield. They took to the streets with invasions, surprises, disturbances, break-ins, rebellions; they have involved people, communities, have offered new points of view. From the 7th of December 2018 to the 28th of April 2019, MAXXI dedicates to them all, but also to architects, urban planners, and designers, The STREET. Where the world is made.
More than 200 works from more than 140 artists to describe a space that is not only a fundamental manmade infrastructure, but a place crossed by multiple meanings, sometimes victim of visual and physical bombardment – signs, advertising, surveillance cameras, garbage – a place where shared practices and new technologies are experimented, and a showcase of projects stemming from the needs of the communities.
The main partner is Enel, the Fondazione MAXXI’s first private partner, which has chosen to support this exhibition in particular due to its extraordinary cultural and research value, offering free admittance to a programme of seminars with architects, journalist, philosophers and artists.
With THE STREET, MAXXI becomes a street-museum, capable of combining works, actions, events and artistic, architectural, urban and technological research, conceived by an international creative community, expanding the study already conducted in 2017 for the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture of Shenzhen with which the MAXXI team collaborated, on the most outstanding artistic experiences, that have reinterpreted the functions and identities of the street from the last two decades. The museum becomes a spokesperson for a reflection on the future of urban life and civil society, and on the function of artistic and cultural institutions.
Curated by Hou Hanru together with the curatorial and research teams of the museum, The STREET. Where the world is made transforms MAXXI into an intense and somewhat chaotic street scene.
Featured artists include: Alberto Garutti, Alfredo Jaar, Allora & Calzadilla, Andy Warhol, Archizoom, Barbara Kruger, Boa Mistura, Cao Fei, Chto Delat, Daniel Buren, Denise Scott Brown, Francis Alÿs, Halil Altindere, Jimmie Durham, Jonathas de Andrade, Kendell Geers, Kimsooja, Le Corbusier, Liu Qingyuan, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Marinella Senatore, Martin Creed, Moe Sat, Monica Bonvicini, Nam June Paik, Olafur Eliasson, Pak Sheung-Chuen, Paola Pivi, Pedro Reyes, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Robert Venturi, Rosa Barba, Sam Durant, Sisley Xhafa, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ugo La Pietra, Vito Acconci, Yang Jiechang and Zhou Tao.
