exhibition
28 November 2013 > 30 March 2014

Gabriele Basilico. Photographs from the MAXXI Collections

curated by Giovanna Calvenzi and Francesca Fabiani
Gian Ferrari Hall

“What constantly interests me, almost obsessively, is the contemporary urban landscape, the social and aesthetic phenomenon of large, fast, uncontainable transformations underway in cities around the planet”.
Gabriele Basilico

Over 70 photographs from the MAXXI Arte and MAXXI Architettura collections documenting the museum’s long and successful collaboration with one of the greatest interpreters of architecture in Italy: this is MAXXI’s tribute to Gabriele Basilico, a master photographer who succeeded though his work in offering the personal suggestions, reflections and visions of a great artist.

From the images of the Strait of Messina realised for the Atlante Italiano project in 2003, to the shots of the MAXXI construction site for Cantiere d’Autore in 2009 and through to the splendid photos dedicated to the exhibition of Luigi Moretti that inaugurated the museum in the May of 2010, the exhibition Gabriele Basilico. Photographs from the MAXXI Collections pieces together, through the numerous commissions undertaken, a true biography of MAXXI as well as the story of a fruitful partnership.
The show also features a series of photographs taken from the most significant chapters of Basilico’s artistic career, such as the celebrated images of Beirut after the war and a series of portraits of Italian cities that testify to his extraordinary ability to read the urban landscape.

The exhibition is completed by a new documentary film by Amos Gitai devoted to the photographer: a long interview in which Basilico talks about his work and which is being previewed at MAXXI on the occasion of the exhibition.