The exhibition of the MAXXI Museum in Rome CLASSIC RELOADED. MEDITERRANEA, curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, will be at the Villa Audi – Mosaic Museum in Beirut from 29 June to 2 September 2018. The selection of works from the Roman museum will then be transferred, starting in November, to the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.
The collection fits into the broader context that sees MAXXI as an instrument of cultural diplomacy and connection between peoples, since bridges can be created through art, against all closure and nationalism. At the beginning of the year, the journey of “Italia, Culture, Mediterraneo” began, the cultural program promoted by the MAECI through its foreign network, moving between the countries of the Middle East area, those of North Africa and the Gulf countries. The section of the exhibition destined for Beirut was created in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Lebanon, the Italian Cultural Institute of Beirut and the Sursock Museum.
CLASSIC RELOADED proposes the reinterpretation and revitalization of a common identity heritage, a cultural and artistic basis from which it is possible to restart to resume a dialogue, to facilitate that understanding between peoples today more than ever necessary, a true antidote to any fundamentalism.
The 20 works of the 13 Italian artists chosen by Pietromarchi want to tell the culture "sea between the lands", cultural autonomy and openness to others, the coexistence of peoples, the relationship between local and global, which unites nations of the Mediterranean.
Each work links together the different Mediterranean traditions: Byzantine art of the gold background of the Untitled work by Gino De Dominicis, fits in with the Roman mythology reference of Lapsus Lupus's Luigi Ontani. The vertical room of Remo Salvadori applies the use of copper to geometry, leading the viewer back to classical architecture, while the sculptures of Bruna Esposito, in polychrome marble and bamboo brooms, mix domestic and architectural dimensions.
The photos of Mimmo Jodice they seem to bring life back to classical sculptures, paintings and mosaics; Instead, Flavio Favelli with the collage of carpets of different origins that makes up Fiori Persiani, it reproduces the culture of dialogue and encounter typical of the Mediterranean identity.
Savior Orange with its ceramics it refers the visitor to native popular traditions with archaic and mythological references and the works of Sabrina Mezzaqui they speak the art of traditional Mediterranean embroidery and cutout craftsmanship.
The Icosahedron of is inspired by an aniconic and ornamental aesthetic of Arab-Muslim matrix Peter Ruffo, while the compositions of Luca Trevisani they announce the binomial presence-absence, which want to make the viewer question the concepts of fragility and balance.
The conclusion of the itinerary is entrusted to a work by Liliana Moro: the sound of a bird's song whistled by the artist herself, which contrasts with the ornamental motifs of the rooms; together with Moro Maurizio Cattelan ed Enzo Cucchi propose two works that recall the underworld: the first exhibits Mother, the underground fakir, while the second Porta asleep, a sculpture painting with clusters of skulls.
