exhibition
22 June 2016 > 18 September 2016

THE INDEPENDENT. Boa Mistura

opening hours

Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm

more information

a project by Hou Hanru
curated by Giulia Ferracci and Elena Motisi
Atrium stairwell

They met when they were 15 years old and creating graffiti on the walls of their quarter of Madrid. Today they work throughout the world, involving entire communities in the transformation of the streets in which they live through painting.
This is the Boa Mistura group that is about to inaugurate the latest stage in The Independent, the museum’s research project investigating independent thinking.

We see our work as a means of transforming the streets and
creating ties between people.
We feel we have a responsibility to the city and the time in which we live.
Boa Mistura

Invited to take part in THE INDEPENDENT, the Boa Mistura collective has chosen to present Agopuntura nello spazio pubblico, a selection of materials from the project for social change Crossroads aimed at vulnerable communities with a high risk of marginalization.

The stairwell in the MAXXI atrium will house a digital wall composed of 14 monitors that will come to life periodically with images, videos and interviews documenting the interventions in South Africa, Mexico, Panama, Algeria, Georgia, Cuba, Brazil, Kenya, Colombia, Nicaragua and Chile.
In all these places Boa Mistura has established contacts with the local communities through participatory dynamics: the inhabitants of the various quarters have been involved in actions of aesthetic improvement that modify perception of the places, reinforcing people’s relations with and in the space in which they live.

THE INDEPENDENT is a research project focussing on the identification and promotion of independent spaces and thinking; it is the manifesto MAXXI has chosen to use to extend the confines of the museum institution, investigate the contemporary and encourage the culture “of difference”. The project explores the contents of the most innovative creative forces, monitors the growth of the independent spaces present in Italy and abroad, disseminates critical and independent thought, offers an opportunity for the sharing of contemporary experiences and investigates strands of non-institutional research.