ROME.- With two major exhibitions and a rich programme of events exploring their themes, Africa is the protagonist in a major project at MAXXI presenting the vitality of its artistic and cultural scene and proposing a reflection on a continent in expansion amidst contradictions and open wounds. The project, strongly supported by Giovanna Melandri, president of the Fondazione MAXXI, is integral to the museum’s strand of research that sees art and culture as instruments of dialogue and cultural diplomacy and, as Melandri explains, “is for us an opportunity to meet and work with the African communities present in Rome, to which it is symbolically dedicated and which have been involved an intensive programme of intercultural mediation, interpreting the works on show on the basis of their personal experiences.”

AFRICAN METROPOLIS. AN IMAGINARY CITY
Curated by Simon Njami and co-curated by Elena Motisi, the exhibition has been realised together with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – DGMO, with Eni is that main partner, and through the intensity and richness of African art, highlights the beauty and contradictions of the cities and the world of today. More than 100 works by 34 African artists thus become elements of an imaginary city, of a path that—through photographs, installations, sculptures, fabrics and videos—reproduces the chaos, the richness and the multiple facets of contemporary African and global identity. The curators have identified five metropolitan actions—Wandering, Belonging, Recognising, Imagining and Reconstructing—that recount an imaginary city and permit visitors to interpret both the physical and the mental space of a contemporary metropolis. Monumental works alternate with intimate pieces and site-specific reworkings.

Exhibiting artists: Akinbode Akinbiyi, Heba Y. Amin, El Anatsui, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Abdulrazaq Awofeso, Sammy Baloji, Bili Bidjocka, Mimi Cherono Ng'ok, Godfried Donkor, Franck Abd-Bakar Fanny, Meschac Gaba, Lucas Gabriel, François-Xavier Gbré, Simon Gush, Hassan Hajjaj, Nicholas Hlobo, Délio Jasse, Samson Kambalu, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Abdoulaye Konaté, Lamine Badian Kouyaté (Xuly.Bët), Youssef Limoud, Onyis Martin, Lavar Munroe, Hassan Musa, Paul Onditi, Maurice Pefura, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Antoine Tempé, Andrew Tshabangu, Sarah Waiswa, Ouattara Watts, James Webb, Amina Zoubir.

ROAD TO JUSTICE
In this exhibition, curated by Anne Palopoli, 11 works by 9 African artists—some from the MAXXI Collection—present the complexities of the continent, its wounds, its violence, its possible future scenarios, offering a reflection on the themes of post-colonialism, memory and identity. Video works, photographs, installations and paintings follow chronological sequences referring to past, present and future.

Exhibiting artists: John Akomfrah, Marlene Dumas, Kendell Geers, Bouchra Khalili, Moshekwa Langa, Wangechi Mutu, Malik Nejmi, Michael Tsegaye, Sue Williamson.