142 - 07|04|10

MAP OFFICE
The Chinese Box
Set up by IaN+
curated by: Emilia Giorgi and Anne Palopoli
Opening: Friday the 16th of April 2010 at 7.00 p.m.
Officine Farneto via dei Monti della Farnesina, 77 - rome

The Chinese Box leads us to discover the urban and rural landscapes
of contemporary China. It presents a collection of various
recent work by MAP OFFICE, a multidisciplinary platform established
in 1996 in Hong Kong by French architects/artists Laurent Gutierrez
and Valerie Portefaix.
The Chinese Box is a journey that, through photographs, drawings,
comics, videos and objects, suggests us a careful reading
of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings
subvert and appropriate space.
For the first time in Rome, Map Office’s urban-anthropological
investigation enters into the space arrangement designed by the
studio of architecture IaN+ (Carmelo Baglivo, Luca Galofaro e
Stefania Manna), which for many years shares with the group of the
French artists the same ideas and visions.
IaN+ proposes us a new reading of Map Office’s work through a
three-dimensional field where each visitor is called to define his
own cognitive path. An abstract grate that scans the space of ex
Magazzini di Casermaggio, designed by Enrico Del Debbio, according
to conceptual islands- fictitious and not physical boundaries.
It’s a site-specific exhibition in the midst of Art and Architecture.
It’s the expression of a fast paced dialogue between Map Office and
IaN+. And at the same time it’s also the expression of the city as the dynamic result from the meeting of the inhabitants, the architecture and the history of the hosting places. The Chinese Box wants to be the first appointment of a travelling cycle of exhibitions in which Italian architects will interpret the work of international artists.

The exhibition -curated by Emilia Giorgi and Anne Palopoli,
promoted by Fondazione Volume! and Officine Farneto – will be
preceded by a conference on Wednesday the 14th of April 2010 at 7.00 p.m. at the Goethe-Institut Italien of Rome.
Talkings: Map Office and IaN+; moderator: Bernd Hunger
(Berliner architect specializing in “re-use the city”).
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue curated by
Emilia Giorgi and printed by Volume! edizioni with essays written
by the curators, Filippo Salviati and IaN+; other contributions
by: Stefano Boeri, Maurizio Bortolotti, Didier Fiuza Faustino, Hou
Hanru, Ilka&Andreas Ruby. A conversation between Map Office and
Ai WeiWei will close the volume.

Published by:
Fondazione Volume! and Officine Farneto
With the support of:
Fondazione MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti
del XXI secolo di Roma
and Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali
Goethe-Institut Rom
Information:
Opening: Friday the 16th of April at 7.00 p.m.
The exhibition will be open till the 7th of May 2010;
opening hours: from Monday to Friday, from 8.30 a.m.
to 8.00 p.m.-closed on public holidays
Place: Officine Farneto, via dei Monti della Farnesina, 77 - Roma
free entrance
Info Fondazione Volume!:
Tel. 06 6892431; info@fondazionevolume.com
Press office:
Alessia Colasanti email: ufficiostampa@fondazionevolume.com;
mob: +39 3493774099
www.fondazionevolume.com
Info Officine Farneto:
Tel. 06 83396746
www.officinefarneto.it
Info Goethe-Institut Italien:
Tel. 06 8440051; info@rom.goethe.org; www.goethe.de/roma
Ufficio Stampa:
Olivia Pallenberg
ufficiostampa2@rom.goethe.org
Tel. 06 84400566