Ten exhibitions to catch during the Christmas holidays

There’s a handful of events and exhibitions that are worth putting in the diary, not just in order to start 2025 with a creative burst, but also enjoy the work their curators have staged in the second half of the year: what with autobiographical tributes, site-specific installations and scientific incursions, every single gallery or museum is worthy of a visit, to look deep into the lives of others. There are stories of nomadic architecture and kinetic exploration, of revolutionary gestures and rivalries, vigorous flashes of light and rigorous forays into the vocabulary: Fulvio Irace returns to the concept of intimacy to bring us his reflections at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. In an increasingly public, exhibited and at times brazen world, what value do we attribute today to what we consider 'private'? I enjoy taking in the images of the objects and spaces on display and noting that they are spontaneously reflected in Judith Clark and Fabio Cherstich's homage to Elio Fiorucci: a man, an entrepreneur and a designer who, politely yet irreverently, made his way into all of our private worlds. Without ever violating them, rather like a cloud.

Cutting Clouds | Tagliando le nuvole

Curated by Marta Ferrara and Marta Wróblewska, the exhibition includes works linked by the common denominator of the ephemeral and the impermanent. Inspired by George Brecht’s early Sixties work, Cloud Scissors, the interventions and works dotted around the liminal spaces of the museum are indications of potential and incompleteness. Reflecting the changeable nature of clouds, Cutting Clouds evolves through a series of casual, unforeseen and indeterminate actions. The works. 
Where: Naples, Museo Madre 
When: until 7th January 2025

Restless Architecture | Architettura Instabile

We live in a constantly moving world, so why should architecture remain inert? Curated by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the exhibition explores movement as a property of the parent discipline and features buildings that change configuration, that contain mobile elements that inflate or deflate to receive visitors. The exhibition layout explores four key concepts: mobility, which allows buildings to be physically moved; adaptability, which allows them to absorb technological change; operability, which allows them to function like machines and eco-dynamism that integrates technologies to create supple interfaces between buildings and their surrounding environment. 
Where: Rome, Maxxi 
When: until 16th March 2025

Shy Society

Dedicated to those in search of new forms of secular meditation, the site-specific highly anticipated by installation by Arturo Galansino and designed by the Dutch duo, stems from a reflection on the themes of welcome and care. The work is composed of seven large elements slotted into the open courtyard space, moving slowly and sinuously to the rhythm of a symphonic piece by the contemporary American composer RZA. The kineticism of the architecture serves as a pendulum that hypnotises the public, suggesting new, more intimate ways of exploring space and living everyday life. In harmony with nature.
Where: Florence, Palazzo Strozzi 
When: until 26th January 2025
 

Ai Weiwei/ Who am I?

Political commitment and the defence of human rights are the focus of the city’s first solo exhibition dedicated to the artist. Promoted by the Carisbo Foundation and produced by Opera Laboratori, the retrospective, curated by Arturo Galansino, is a journey through 50 works that takes us back to the origin of Ai Weiwei’s quest for truth. An artist (and persecuted politician) loved all over the world, his is a story that uses installations, sculptures, videos and photographs, mixing media to illustrate the intensity of his struggle. Always topical. 
Where: Bologna, Palazzo Fava 
When: until 4th May 2025
 

BAJ. Baj chez Baj

One hundred years after the birth of Enrico Baj, and in synergy with the anthological exhibition of the same name hosted at Palazzo Reale in Milan, this is the largest retrospective ever of Baj's ceramic work, curated by Luca Bochicchio. One hundred works in eight sections document a fifty-year career. It all began in the summer of 1954, exactly seventy years ago, when Enrico Baj was experimenting with clay, in Albissola itself. This was the time of the historic International Meeting of Ceramics, organised by Asger Jorn as part of the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, which he and Baj set up…
Where: Savona/Albissola, Museo della Ceramica di Savona + MuDA di Albissola 
When: until 9th February 2025
 

Cyprien Gaillard. Retinal Rivalry

Curated by Samuele Piazza, this one-man exhibition dedicated to the French artist is an invitation to reflect on contradictions and techniques capable of altering our perception of the world. It does so by pulling the public in closer to explore the concept of 'retinal rivalry' - the particular optical phenomenon that occurs when two different images are presented to the eyes. Instead of merging them into a single image, our brain alternates them, seeking an impossible reconciliation.
Where: Turin, OGR 
When: ntil 2th February 2025