Earth. The origin of the project: 10 exhibitions to note in your diary

The Earth, matter, landscape and cultural construction. The Earth, a set of stratifications in which to deposit memories, wage conflicts and continuously redefine the relations between the environment, bodies and communities. The Earth, our horizon: the journey we are about to recount unfolds around this idea. Ten stages of contemporary Italian cultural production, in which places prove to be situated spaces of engagement and transformation, where rights, memberships and the possibility of imagining other ways of inhabiting the world are measured. From clay to concrete, from industrial architecture to domestic spaces, from volcanic landscapes to places of collective memory, the Earth emerges as a living organism, never neutral, on which are deposited the traces of our passing and the inequalities that still pervade it. Here the ecological question encounters the social, and here feminist, transfeminist and intersectional issues become entwined with battles for the rights and freedom of bodies, while the project reopens archives, rewrites narratives and restores visibility to much that has been marginalized. An Italian and situated itinerary, in fact: because it is in places, in their specifics and in the communities that inhabit them, that culture can become a practice of awareness, a space for dissent and the possibility of change. Hence the Earth is not only what we inherit, but what we are called on to read and reread, conquer and defend together.

Gordon Matta-Clark. Not the Work... The Worker + Shirin Neshat. Do U Dare!, MAXXI, Rome

How greatly do the physical or digital spaces we inhabit influence our scope for expression and relationships? From 13 November, the MAXXI will be bringing together two radical researches. Gordon Matta-Clark. Not the Work... The Worker (until 28/2/2026), curated by Jessamyn Fiore and Francesco Stocchi, traces the research of the American artist and architect who revolutionized the concept of space through cuts and openings in buildings. In a present marked by the housing crisis and the transformation of cities, his work invites us to rethink architecture as a space to be shared and reinvented. With Shirin Neshat. Do U Dare!, curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi with Anne Palopoli as associate curator (until 10/01/2027), a trilogy of films and a series of photographs take their cue from the tragic story of Nasim Aghdam, who in 2018 attacked the headquarters of YouTube, convinced that she had been censored by the platform, before taking her own life. A story that questions the need for visibility, the power of the media and the contradictions of digital identity.

Where: Galleria 4 del MAXXI, Rome
When: From 13 November 2026 to 28 February 2027.

Viktor&Rolf. Spectrum, 10 Corso Como, Milan

There is no identity without its double, nor a reflection that does not insinuate a gap between what we are and what we believe we are. From this intuition arises Viktor&Rolf. Spectrum, the first Italian exhibition devoted to the Dutch duo, presented by 10 Corso Como on the occasion of its 35th anniversary. The exhibition design by Parasite 2.0, one of the most radical architecture firms on the contemporary scene, takes the mirror as a device for exploring identities, contrasts and correspondences. Curated by Alessio de’Navasques, the exhibition features over twenty haute couture outfits, made in the thirty years of their career, to create an itinerary that abandons chronology to follow the rhythms of recurrent returns and obsessions. As a prism breaks down light into its infinite hues, so the exhibition refracts the many souls of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren: irony, surrealism, theatricality and social criticism. Between garments that defy gravity, deformed silhouettes and contemporary archival materials transformed into new creations, the past continually resurfaces in other forms. The mirror does not render a faithful image but multiplies the potential interpretations, confusing original and replica, individual identity and creative complicity, presence and reflection. Because in Viktor&Rolf’s fashions, the double is never a simple copy, but a device to question conventions and reinvent the language of dress in every case.

Where: Galleria 10 Corso Como (Corso Como 10, Milan)
When: until 22 november 2026

Raptor del Sol, Carlota Gadea Marqués, Fondazione Elpis, Milan

What makes life possible on a transformed earth, and how far can a body go in order to survive? Raptor del Sol, a project by the Spanish artist and composer Carlota Gadea Marqués, created in collaboration with Threes Production, arises from these questions. Combining sound, performance and installation, the research develops by starting from the volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands and the relationship of the ancient Guanche inhabitants with volcanoes, sacred and dangerous places, viewed as gateways to the underworld. According to tradition, they were the dwelling place of Guayota, a deity who kidnapped the Sun and was finally imprisoned in Mount Teide. The mythological tale becomes an opportunity to question the relations between bodies, the environment and survival, restoring the focus on the primordial force of the Earth and the vulnerability of those who inhabit it.

Where: Lavanderia - Via Lamarmora 26, Milan
When: until 1 December 2026

From The Ground, Circolo del Design, Turin

For visitors to Artissima in Turin, two events express how design can rethink our relationship with the Earth. At the Circolo del Design, From The Ground, part of the project Earthrise – Design for a Living Planet, explores the relations between matter, resources and regions through twelve projects devoted to clay, between local knowledge and experimentation. On Saturday 31 October, at 10:30 am, the Portuguese collective By The End of May is presenting RIO, a terracotta seed-bank cabinet that serves as a focal point for a shared breakfast gathering. Meanwhile, at the MAcA, continuing the theme of materials, EcoRadar, curated by the Department of Architecture and Design at the Politecnico di Torino, brings together over 30 innovative products, services, and processes developed by Piedmontese companies. Through recycling, reuse, natural materials, and biocomposites, the exhibition shows how sustainability can develop into realistic industrial practices 

Where: Circolo del Design, Via San Francesco da Paola 17 - Turin
When: until 30 January 2027

Delizie, Edoardo Piermattei + MIRA, Lingotto Fiere, Turin

What better opportunity than Artissima to transform concrete, the emblematic material of contemporary architecture, into an expressive surface? With Delizie, the artist Edoardo Piermattei deals with the construction material in a site-specific installation inspired by the gardens of the Medici villas, places of pleasure, display and cultural production. In dialogue with the theme of the fair, Fancy: A Flexible, Acrobatic Body, three monumental sculptures (Nymphaeum, Delight and Sad Fountain) compose a landscape suspended between nature and artifice, function and imagination. Not far away, but still at the fair, the MIRA – Istituto Mediterraneo per la Ricerca e le Arti, Messina’s new cultural centre, presents the work by the Polisonum collective and a program of meetings devoted to cultural diplomacy. On Sunday 1 November, at 4:15 pm, the talk The Contemporary as a Tool of Cultural Diplomacy explores the role of art in shaping relationships and collaborations between African and Mediterranean countries.

Where: Artissima - Oval Lingotto, Turin
When: until 1 November 2026