REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH - MAXXI Collection

under the artistic direction of Hou Hanru, MAXXI explores its own collections through over 200 works of art and architecture in a major exhibition involving the entire museum

REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH is the first exhibition curated by Artistic Director Hou Hanru who has worked with the curatorial staff of MAXXI Arte directed by Anna Mattirolo and MAXXI Architettura directed by Margherita Guccione, in an approach that emphasize the force of collective intelligence. The curatorial team includes Francesca Fabiani, Laura Felci, Anne Palopoli, Monia Trombetta, Esmeralda Valente and the technical supports of the MAXXI work force led by Alessandra Barbuto, Luisa De Marinis, Paola Mastracci, Daniela Pesce, Claudia Reale, Carla Zhara Buda. The over 200 works on show demonstrate the profound vitality of a museum collection capable of representing universal themes and stimulating critical debate and discussion.

With a layout involving the entire museum (from the piazza to MAXXI B.A.S.E., from the great lobby on the ground floor to Galleries 2 and 3 on the first floor, for a total area of over 3,000 m2) NON BASTA RICORDARE presents works of art and architecture that create dialogues among themselves and with the space, revealing the experimentation underlying MAXXI's cultural projects and the and the desire to link the various disciplines in an innovative investigation of the meaning of contemporary creation.

“This first unified presentation of our collections marks the arrival at MAXXI of the new director Hou Hanru. I have long been convinced of the “need” for this exhibition and I am particularly satisfied” - says Giovanna Melandri President of the Fondazione MAXXI - ”Both for the commitment shown by Hou Hanru and because REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH valorises the MAXXI collection, the fundamental element in the museum’s identity, within which art and architecture establish a dialogue in a setting that breaks down rigid disciplinary confines and lends visible form to the identity of the new MAXXI we are eager to construct. A great platform for research, in which exhibitions of art, architecture, design, photography and film, theatre and dance projects may co-exist. In short, a dynamic incubator for that "frontier spirit" we need so badly today."

“REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH emphasises the need to adopt a broader vision and a more dynamic approach in order to develop and promote the museum’s collection – says Hou Hanru MAXXI’s artistic Director – not only conserving and presenting significant works of contemporary art, but also activating an ongoing process in which historical memory is continually reconstructed in order to provide new vitality. This keeps the works alive and continue to produce meaningful inspiration. Eventually, they will help us understand our own time.”

“Now more than ever a museum like MAXXI is called to invest in the growth and the value of its own collection- affirms Anna Mattirolo Director MAXXI Arte. - This exhibition displays all its vitality through a new stage that offers further suggestions and insights.”

“In this exhibition, resonating with the art, the creative dimension of the architectural project prevails” - says Margherita Guccione Director of MAXXI Architettura - Drawings, sketches, collages, videos and models intercept the themes of contemporary creativity, with an awareness that ‘architecture is too important to leave to architects alone’ as Giancarlo De Carlo once said.”

The exhibition revolves around and is animated by universal phrases and themes belonging to the lives of all of us: city and environment, joy and pain, politics and ideology, physicality and intimacy, theatre and performance. The works have been chosen to respond to these issues and presented with articulations of their aesthetic and intellectual quality and the potentials of mutual dialogues.

The city and public space are discussed in works such as Faradayurt (2001), the tent in copper fabric by Jana Sterbak that welcomes visitors in the museum piazza together with Cultural Traffic (2010) by Teddy Cruz, a structure realised with traffic cones. Inside are the Cartoline postali (Venezia) (2009) by Yona Friedman, the vertigo inspired by Nervi’s Palazzetto dello Sport (2004) as photographed by Olivo Barbieri, the expressive works of Ed Ruscha and Stadbild (219/1) (1969) by Gerhard Richter. The exhibition also features over 100 projects presented for YAP MAXXI (the programme supporting young designers run with MoMA of NY) recounted in a 10-screen video installation in the museum hall.

Theatre and staging are another two hubs around which revolve works of great impact such as Where is our place? (2003) by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Bronzefrau n. 10 (2002) by Thomas Shutte and the irreverent A piedi pari (2006) by Lara Favaretto, alongside which are exhibited beautiful theatre designs by Aldo Rossi, Carlo Scarpa, Maurizio Sacripanti and Vittorio De Feo.

The projects by Sergio Musmeci on structures in traction, the series of photographs of the Living Theatre (1947-2000), the work of Cino Zucchi Nel Corpo della città (2010), the Saloon Photographs (1995-96) by Paul McCarthy and the photographs of Nan Goldin or Piggyback (1997) by the Chapman brothers, all talk about the body and performance.

Francis Alÿs, Letizia Battaglia, Olivo Barbieri, Elisabetta Benassi, Christian Boltansky, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Lara Favaretto, Nan Goldin, Alfredo Jaar, Living Theatre, Paul McCarthy, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Doris Salcedo, Thomas Schütte, Kara Walker, Jana Sterbak, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, William Kentridge, Teddy Cruz, Enrico Del Debbio, Vittorio De Feo, Mario Fiorentino, Sergio Musmeci, Aldo Rossi, Maurizio Sacripanti, Carlo Scarpa, Superstudio, Stalker, Cino Zucchi, Maurizio Cattelan, Gilbert&George, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Lawrence Weiner and Toyo Ito. Just some of the over 70 artists and architects featuring in the major exhibition REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH. MAXXI Collection that from 20 December 2013 to 28 September 2014 MAXXI is devoting to its own permanent collection.