On the 27th of July 1980 with the title La Presenza del Passato, the first international architecture show was held by the Biennale di Venezia (curated by Paolo Portoghesi). Portoghesi also proposed the exhibition La Strada Novissima in which 20 international architects created 20 life-size facades to trigger a reflection on the theme of the road and to create a concrete image of a different way of thinking about architecture

Almost forty years later, the MAXXI returns to reflect on this theme through the great
exhibition La Strada. Where the world is created, Paolo Portoghesi curates INSIDE THE
NOVISSIMA ROAD, hosted at the Archives Architecture Center from 7 December 2018 to 28 April 2019, where a deep focus is placed on this crucial moment in the history of
twentieth century architecture which paved the way for international discussion on
postmodernism.

La Strada Novissima proposed in its space a proper 70 metre path, with 10 facades per
side, all in their full size, designed by Ricardo Bofill, Costantino Dardi, Frank O. Gehry,
Michael Graves, GRAU, Allan Greenberg, Hans Hollein, Arata Isozaki, Josef Paul
Kleihues, Rem Koolhaas, Léon Krier, Charles W. Moore, Paolo Portoghesi con
Francesco Cellini e Claudio D’Amato, Franco Purini e Laura Thermes, Massimo
Scolari, Thomas Gordon Smith, Robert A. M. Stern, Stanley Tigerman, Osvald
Mathias Ungers, Robert Venturi-Denis Scott Brown-John Rauch. Each facade, 9 metre long and 7 wide, is an expression of the style and research of the author, and all together, in their diversity, compose an urban pathway which we are invited to cross. It is an expression of plurality of voices, plurality if letters, and a way of reappropriating the past.

 

 

The Strada Novissima proposes a return to the idea of a street, calling to attention to the
communicative strength of architecture while, at the same time, adding an ironic dimension to it. An iconic image of Post Modernist architecture, the Strada Novissima displays the unrest, visions and research that has only recently become such an essentially recognised part of the architectural scene. The exhibition was first shown in 1981 in Paris in the Hôpital Universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière, and was later taken to San Francisco in The San Francisco Armory in 1983. This led the exhibition to be known as “The street (strada) which crossed the ocean”.

Between archived documents, photographs, project designs and direct testimonies, the focus of DENTRO LA STRADA NOVISSIMA is both a physical and a historical one, which allows us to see within the 1980 exhibition and reconsider the visions and unrest. Accompanied once again by the guide Paolo Portoghesi, we can piece together the historical journey through the documents accounting the most extraordinary experiences of 20th century Italian architecture, and embark on a physical journey to the projects designed by the Strada Novissima.

Place: MAXXI National Museum of XXI century Arts.
Address: Via Guido Reni 4/a
Opening times: 11am-7pm. Saturday 11am-10pm. Closed on Mondays, the 25th of December, and the 1st of May. The ticket office closes one hour before the museum.
Curated by: Paolo Portoghesi
Cost: TICKET COST: full € 12, reduced € 9 / € 4. Free for children under 14; disabled people who need a companion; companion of the disabled; MiBAC employees; escorts and tour guides from Regione Lazio; 1 teacher for every 10 students; ICOM members; AMACI members; accredited journalists; holders of the MAXXI membership card; University and Art students and researchers from Tuesday to Friday * (excluding holidays); on your birthday presenting an identity document
PHONE FOR PRE-SALES: 892 234
TELEPHONE FOR INFORMATION: +39 06 3201954
E-MAIL INFO: infopoint@fondazionemaxxi.it
OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.maxxi.art