The Italian Cultural Institute in New York has at its heart the mission of promoting Italian Culture in all of its richness and complexity. They also believe that part of this job is recognize and cooperate whit those who, being institutions or privates, are working toward their same objectives.
From this idea stemmed the project of hosting an exhibition, in collaboration with Magazzino Italian Art, to highlight the works of incredible artists currently on show or in their permanent collection, but also to underline the precious role played by Magazzino and its founders, to advance scholarship and public appreciation of postwar and contemporary Italian art in the United States, with a special focus on Arte Povera.
The exhibition will be open from March 13 until May 13, 2025. The concept of the exhibition is inspired by the principle theorized by Umberto Eco in 2007 for the Guggenheim in Bilbao and explored in depth in the essay “The museum of the third millennium”: creating a path that allows you to completely immerse yourself in a single work “A journey that leads me to truly enter a single work would make that visit to the museum a memorable experience.”
Indeed, Maria Lai has often underlined the importance of an immersive enjoyment of art through a single work, as expressed in her speech for the honorary degree in 2004: "A work of art should be seen for several days and looked at in silence and alone, in an empty space, which unfortunately no museum offers us."
The exhibition is therefore divided into three sections, each with a single emblematic work:
Foyer
Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017)
Untitled (Omaggio a Fontana)
1986
From the Art Povera permanent collection
Galleria Borghese
Maria Lai (1919-2013)
Per Ille
1983
From the exhibition Maria Lai. A Journey to America (November 2024–July 2025)
Galleria Park Avenue
Lucio Pozzi (1935-)
Consular Relocations
2025
From the exhibition Lucio Pozzi: qui dentro/in here (March–June 2025)