William Kentridge and Franco Battiato to Kick Off 2026 at Maxxi in Rome
The Maxxi Museum in Rome is set to begin its 2026 season with a bang, featuring two highly anticipated projects that showcase the works of renowned artists William Kentridge and Franco Battiato. The museum’s Gallery 5 will host Kentridge’s “Breathe dissolve return,” a total experience of original images, sounds, and music by Philip Miller, curated by Oscar Pizzo and Franco Laera. This project is co-produced by Maxxi, Change Performing Arts, and William Kentridge Studio, and will be on display from January 30.
A Tribute to Franco Battiato
In addition to Kentridge’s project, the museum will also pay tribute to the late Franco Battiato, a musician, songwriter, poet, philosopher, and intellectual, with the exhibition-event “Franco Battiato. Another life.” This unique journey into Battiato’s talent is edited by Giorgio Calcara with Grazia Cristina Battiato and will be on display in the Spazio Extra Maxxi from January 31. The exhibition is co-produced by Mic and Maxxi and organized by Creare Organize Realize by Alessandro Nicosia in collaboration with the Franco Battiato Ets Foundation.
Other Upcoming Exhibitions and Projects
The Maxxi L’Aquila venue will host the second chapter of the monograph dedicated to Andrea Pazienza, while the Palazzo Ardinghelli will feature Ai Weiwei’s “Aftershock,” curated by Tim Marlow. This exhibition explores the continuous impact of natural disasters and man-made conflicts, corruption, and tragedies across five decades of Ai Weiwei’s career. In Abruzzo, Maxxi will be among the main protagonists of L’Aquila Capital of Culture, with Marinella Senatore’s “Sond – The School of Narrative Dance” and a great exhibition on Fabio Mauri curated by Maurizio Cattelan and Marta Papini.
Transforming the Museum Square
The president of the Maxxi Foundation, Emanuela Bruni, has announced that 2026 will be a year of innovations, with works and construction sites that will transform the Museum Square into a greener and more welcoming place. The entrance to the Museum will change face again with visionary furnishings by the Spanish studio Takk, and the concrete will give way to greenery thanks to the Grande Maxxi project.
Upcoming Exhibitions in Spring 2026
The heart of the programming will arrive in spring, with the inauguration of the great Tragicomica exhibition on April 2. This exhibition, edited by Andrea Bellini and Francesco Stocchi, will investigate the ironic, comic, and self-deprecating component as a distinctive trait of the Italian tradition, with works by Elena Bellantoni, Mirella Bentivoglio, Alighiero Boetti, Maurizio Cattelan, Gino De Dominicis, Lucio Fontana, Chiara Fumai, Silvia Giambrone, Valerio Nicolai, and Paola Pivi. In conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the Italian Republic, “Architectures from Italy” will be inaugurated, featuring the voices of the great masters of national architecture at the turn of the millennium.
For more information on these exhibitions and projects, please visit Here