On the occasion of its first public exchange, MAXXI Med – which will open its doors in Messina, Sicily – presents some hypotheses from its research in the project A yellow sun, A green sun, A yellow sun, A red sun, A blue sun – Echoes through the Mediterraneans curated by Chiara Ianeselli at MAXXI – museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo in Rome.

Video artworks, untold stories, and sound tales from underground, along with whale songs and archaeological traces, deconstruct the idea of the ideal Mediterranean, multiplying narrative forms and generating alternative visions.
Almost like a manifesto of ever-evolving intentions, the program multiplies echoes and horizons to listen and to share the issues expressed by the arts in the many contexts of the Mediterraneans, reaching as far as the seas of the Moon.

The title of the project comes from the poem The Arab Apocalypse (1980) by Etel Adnan, in which the artist transcends the limits of words, also including in the text tiny hand-drawn hieroglyphics that suspend meanings and cross the various verses, generating liminal spaces with suns of different colours; hinting at the many facets, even dramatic ones, illuminated each day on the shores of the sea.

From the tuna fisheries in Sicily, the investigation moves to the area of the Greater Maghreb, in Arabic المغرب al-Maghrib, “the place of sunset”, with a view both inward and outward, following a pluralistic approach without the prejudices of research determinations.

The project includes a curatorial proposal titled (Un)told Stories, a section co-curated with Elisabeth Piskernik. This section presents artistic positions from Badr El Hammami, Mohammed Laouli, Ziad Naitaddi and Katrin Ströbel that question the construction of History and official narratives, reworking alternative narratives that are undocumented, orally transmitted, or voluntarily repressed.

The programme opens on May 8 at 6 pm with an introduction by the MAXXI President, Alessandro Giuli, followed by an intervention from Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Venice Biennale President, in conversation with Chiara Ianeselli, the MAXXI Med curator and project curator.

image: Badr El Hammami, Thabrate, video still, 2018