Treccani, the first encyclopedia of contemporary art is born in collaboration with MAXXI

The first encyclopedia dedicated to contemporary art at the international level, published by Treccani, is born. It will be presented on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the MAXXI Auditorium, as part of the series of meetings Libri al MAXXI, promoted by the National Museum of XXI Century Arts. Presenting the work will be Massimo Bray (Treccani General Director), together with Valeria Della Valle and Vincenzo Trione (Scientific Direction Treccani Encyclopedia Contemporary Art), with writer Emanuele Trevi, introduced by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, MAXXI Arte director.

A project made possible by the collaboration between the two institutions, which gave birth to the Treccani Arte/MAXXI project, born in 2020 from an idea of Treccani Arte and curated by MAXXI Arte, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the National Museum of XXI Century Arts through a dedicated production of ten limited-edition works, commissioned from ten Italian and international artists whose works have marked the history of the museum. Alfredo Jaar, Remo Salvadori and Nico Vascellari the artists chosen to launch this initiative. Upcoming editions will involve artists Bruna Esposito with the work Lungimiranti (at the end of January 2022) and, in the spring, Cao Fei, the protagonist at MAXXI of her first solo show in Italy, until May 8, 2022.

With more than 3,600 headwords and 435 authors involved, the Treccani Arte Contemporanea work offers a reasoned collection of the artistic panorama of the 20th and 21st centuries, going beyond a phenomenological reconnaissance of contemporary art and proposing a cataloguing not only of artists, but also of art historians, theorists, critics, curators and all the figures who have had and have a significant dialogue with art. Alongside the people, the Encyclopedia presents places and contexts in which art is created and promoted, along with the main artistic movements and techniques of our time.

Divided into monographic entries, which include individual artists and groups, as well as theorists, gallery owners, collectors and dealers, museums, exhibitions and journals; thematic entries, in which movements and trends, themes and situations bordering on other disciplines, as well as relevant cities in the art debate are presented; headings-container, which bring together in a single headword, experiences, techniques, exhibition types, and groups related to a single geographic or thematic area; interdisciplinary and transnational headings covering different geographic or thematic areas, the work brings together the components of the art system from 1900 to 2021.

“Contemporary art of the twentieth century and the year two thousand has substantially changed its means of production and its meanings, adapting to the times and our way of life, to interpret the instances of the present, identifying spaces and moments of reflection and confrontation on the great issues of our time,” said Massimo Bray, director general of the Italian Encyclopedia Institute. “Its ’liquidity’ and the dense network of relationships it weaves with our social, economic and cultural life make it difficult to investigate in an orderly and exhaustive way. The work Contemporary Art aims, therefore, to return a possible architecture of the subject, a reasoned collection and a choral narrative of the major artistic experiences of our time.”

The work features an innovative graphic design by Polystudio and a rich selection of images and works. Each volume features an unpublished artwork inspired by the idea of an encyclopedia, by some of the major figures in contemporary art, invited to represent a specific continent: Anish Kapoor Asia, William Kentridge Africa, Anselm Kiefer Europe and Joseph Kosuth America. These works are joined in the first volume by a portfolio by Shirin Neshat, an artist who has always moved between different worlds and languages.

Treccani, the first encyclopedia of contemporary art is born in collaboration with MAXXI

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