event
Wednesday 3 April 2019 ore 18:30 - 20:00

Books at MAXXI.The Hidden City. Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo

Graziella Lonardi Buontempo Hall – free entry until full capacity
10 seats reserved for myMAXXI card’s holders by writing to mymaxxi@fondazionemaxxi.it, by the day before the event

A contemporary narrative activated by a historic and unique place for its stratification of cultures, architecture, collections and the set up by Carlo Scarpa.

Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo is a book born of a participatory art project that was held in Palermo as a side event to Manifesta12 inside Palazzo Abatellis. The project involved the entire city and prestigious institutions such as, in addition to the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo, the Polytechnic of the University of Palermo, and the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory of Palermo.

The work begins at dawn of a Monday morning in September, with a visit to a closed museum with its lights off to go through eras and cultures, ancient stories and contemporary visions; to observe works of art, architecture, arcades, salons, deconsecrated churches, courtyards, and terraces. Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo is a contemporary narrative activated by a historic and unique place for its stratification of cultures, architecture, collections and the set up by Carlo Scarpa. It is a story that distils ideas and intuitions by Stefano Graziani, Cloe Piccoli, artists, architects, curators, scholars, and historians of art. Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo is an artist’s book that dialogues with the history, mythology, and iconography of the museum located in via Alloro, to reveal the potential and vitality of a process in constant evolution.

Marking the path are the photographs by Stefano Graziani, who has the unique talent of capturing coincidences in which architectural details, displays, works, and rays of light converge. A curtain illuminated by the sun that shields the window of one of the most solemn rooms of Palazzo Abatellis is an image as precise as it is open to another possible interpretation. Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo is a fantastic journey to a place we thought we knew.

Introduction
Margherita Guccione, MAXXI Architecture Director

Speakers
Evelina De Castro, Director of Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palazzo Abatellis
Stefano Graziani, artist
Cloe PiccoliThe Hidden City‘s curator