Miscellaneous: The Art Practice at MAC Maja Arte Contemporanea.

14 May-28 June. Described as "one-of-a-kind", a seven-part exhibition at Rome's Galleria MAC Maja Arte Contemporanea takes inspiration from a quotation by the late Italian artist Maria Lai (1919-2013): "L'opera diventa respiro che si allarga di lettura in lettura" [The artwork becomes a single breath that widens with each reading].

The exhibition's curator and gallery owner Daina Maja Titonel explains:

"Divided into seven chapters, it springs from a deep reflection on the relationship between the viewer and the exhibition, and, further, on the agency the former has on the latter.

At times, a gallery can welcome hasty visitors who brush through the display quickly; as they leave, my ears are struck by the quiet, rumbling complaints of the artwork on the walls. Hurt, they demand more careful attention. The space itself feels somewhat violated by such distracted, fleeting appearances.

In this light, this time I ask the viewers choosing to visit Miscellaneous for their undivided attention and their time. Three chairs have been placed at the centre of the gallery; each chair faces a different wall, hosting but a single artwork. The viewer is invited to take a seat, make themselves comfortable, and take time to enter into a dialogue with the work they have before them.

I ask the artwork to endure the empty wall's overbearing presence, and to use its evocative and suggestive force to absorb all of the attention.

I ask the gallery owner, and hence myself, to use the same attentive care that is required from viewers; and then I ask the curator, again myself, to change the exhibit each week, transforming the space and the exhibit itself into a performance.

And finally I ask the artists, who make all of this possible, to allow themselves to be involved in a performative experience of continued becoming."

Chapter 1: The Origins features a work each by Angelo Titonel (1938-2018) and Armando Spadini (1883-1925), as well as a performance by Daina Maja Titonel.

For full details regarding exhibition and visiting times see gallery website.

Image: Angelo Titonel, detail of Maja, 1973, acrylic on canvas.