ROME.- Immaterial, immersive, incontrollable, omnipresent, invisible, sound is the most radical and experimental aspect of contemporary art, the perfect instrument with which to conquer spaces for freedom of expression, an unexpected perspective from which to observe and analyze reality.

With Open Museum Open City (October 24 – November 30, 2014) curated by Hou Hanru, Artistic Director of MAXXI and the curatorial staff of MAXXI Arte directed by Anna Mattirolo and MAXXI Architettura directed by Margherita Guccione, a radical gesture is carried out: the MAXXI is completely emptied out, laid bare, so that it can be filled with sound.

The site-specific installations of Justin Bennet, Cevdet Erek, Lara Favaretto, Francesco Fonassi, Bill Fontana, Jean Baptiste Ganne, Ryoji Ikeda, Haroon Mirza, Philippe Rahm and RAM radioartemobile fill the museum spaces, transforming them into urban or intimate, spiritual or political environments, for a redefinition of the museum space, as well as of its meaning as a public institution.

Ryoji Ikeda explores, in a very direct way, the evolution in the intonation of the musical note “A” in a minimalist work that encourages us to contemplate the theme of the origin of things, the origins of the world. Bill Fontana introduces the sounds of the Acquedotto Vergine that flows from its source in underground Rome and through the city’s fountains, evoking the dynamic movement of time as a primary force that defines the identity of the Eternal City (the work has been made possible by Meyer Sound).

Haroon Mirza creates a device capable of bringing outside noises inside the museum. Justin Bennett creates a 3-D sound installation that turns part of one of MAXXI’s galleries into an urban space and a second one that seems to answer to our most hidden desire: to know the future.

Cevdet Erek creates a new citizen’s space where to move, dance or rest, communicate and create a common feeling. For this reason, he removes the glass balustrades, connects the two terraces of Gallery 3  through two wooden flights of stairs, creates  a platform by raising the preexisting architectural level, and transforms the gallery in an experiential place. This is the new square, a place able to evoke a variety of feelings: hope, resistance, anger, enthusiasm and fear.

Philippe Rahm explores the potential of the musical composition for the creation of a new architectural dimension, using the context of the museum to break down a piece by Claude Debussy, and then put it back together again.

There is no one more courageous and mad than the Don Quixote created by Cervantes and loved by Jean-Baptiste Ganne, who has conceived a translation in Morse code with flashing red lights: the dumb show of a solitary warrior, an invitation to take action, a dose of courageous utopianism.

Francesco Fonassi and his interactive installation invite the public to experiment with the existential rigor inherent to a private world of freedom, coming to terms with the tension between desire and restraint, curiosity and obstacle.

Lara Favaretto suggests we face the contradiction between the effort required by sculpture and vacuity of that same effort. RAM radioartemobile installs inside the museum a radio station designed by H.H.LIM which transmits on the web and in the museum the contributions of the artists and the public as well as material from the archive: it is a reflection on cultural institutions, now that radio is part of the global network and can reach the entire world. In the Centro Archivi di Architettura, the installation The Architects’ voice_the words of architecture, curated by MAXXI Architettura and Tempo Reale, weaves together, like in a musical score, thoughts, ideas and considerations by some of the major protagonists of the last 50 years of the history of architecture.

With Open Museum Open City sound proves to be the perfect medium to transgress, deconstruct, overcome the confines of conventions; thus, it is the perfect instrument to create a new model of the open museum. If contemporary society pushes us toward rationales of consumerism and sensationalism, the museum instead presents itself as a place for debate, creativity, imagination and the exchange of ideas in the manner of a new Roman Forum, an inovative model of civil society.

The installations presented do not just communicate sentiments, emotions and individual and group imaginaries; rather, they contribute to redefining the architectural conditions of the building, creating connections between the inside and the outside, between the institution and the city, between the artistic world and other communities, determining the necessary conditions for encounters, interactions, and public debates.

The result of this is a program of performances that are an essential and integral part of Open Museum Open City, in which artists, architects, intellectuals, politicians and, of course, the public all take part: videos and photos, performances, theater, dance, music, cinema, narratives, conferences and debates, linked to the different thematic areas determined by the installations and that propose new artistic and cultural forms, in which the viewers are not just passive observers, but active participants: a platform on which to experiment with new ideas, a workshop of democratic and innovative life.

Each day at 3 p.m. the museum spaces will come to life with the events scheduled, while in the morning visitors will be able to immerse themselves exclusively in the sounds of the installations.