Exhibitions
A photographic and audiovisual exhibition of the great Turkish contemporary photographer Arif Asci, who set off with a caravan of 8 people and 10 camels on the ancient trading route from Xian to Istanbul. The trip through Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, lasted 18 months and covered 12 thousand kilometers.
La calligrafia araba possiede, oltre al suo peculiare significato spirituale – in quanto utilizzata per la scrittura dei testi sacri islamici, ossia del Corano – una intrinseca valenza decorativa che l'ha resa un elemento importante, costitutivo dell'arte islamica. Verso la metà del secolo scorso alcuni artisti arabi di varie nazionalità, nella ricerca della propria identità espressiva e artistica, si cimentarono nell'uso della calligrafia araba, sfruttandone in pieno le potenzialità astratte. Da questi tentativi nacque la Modern Calligraphic School, un grande movimento nell'ambito dell'arte araba ed islamica contemporanea. Le 110 opere esposte, realizzate da 76 artisti tra i più importanti del mondo arabo, provengono dalla collezione permanente di opere calligrafiche della Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts e comprendono dipinti, installazioni, opere di grafica e libri d'arte.
A reflection on the contrast between the glories of the past and the consumerism of the present, with the outcomes and consequences in the future, this is the idea behind Rosa Gisladottir’s project. The Markets of Trajan are the ideal backdrop for her artworks made of plastic, Plexiglas, aluminium, water, ink, combining the legacy of the past and its finds with currently used materials.
A medal found on a small market stand, bearing the inscription “Fiera di Roma” on one side and a fasces on the other, and a cross shaped decoration found in the archive of the Buiatti Company: these findings referring to the 1924 fair, have provided the inspiration for a thorough archival investigation which brought to light a series of business events that took place in Rome and that can be considered the forefather of the modern Fair of Rome.
The curators have chronicled the whole story of the fairs in Rome, from the very first one at the Capitoline Hill in 1810, at the time of French rule, via the only one organized during the papal State era at the Baths of Diocletian in 1870, to the establishment of the Ente Autonomo Fieristico di Roma, for a joint project that includes the exhibition at the Markets of Trajan, the publication of a book, the creation of a museum at the new Fair of Rome.