Tribute to Arte Povera at MAXXI (Rome)

Tribute to Arte Povera
MAXXI
7 October 2011 – 8 January 2012

With the ambit of the celebrations of Art Povera – a series of events curated by Germano Celant on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy – MAXXI presents two major installations by Jannis Kounellis and Gilberto Zorio that dialogue with the Lymph sculptures by Giuseppe Penone, a permanent feature of the museum spaces.
With its dialogue between artificial and natural elements, Lymph sculptures synthesises one of the strands of research underlying the Arte Povera movement.
Kounellis’s installation, with its pile of sheet metal is a symbol of an ancestral culture that sees in steel and jute materials that reference primogenial energies. Its evocative power redesigns the museum atrium, entering into a mute dialogue with the exhibition space.
Zorio’s work Rome Canoe, created for this occasion and suspended in front of the great glazed wall on the museum’s upper floor visually involves the external piazza and establishes a relationship with the spaces.
The works will act as catalysers of energy, rendering visible the link that unites MAXXI with its public.