GOOD NEWS. Women in architecture
MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
December 16, 2021 – September 11, 2022

From Signe Hornborg, the first woman in the world to graduate in architecture, in Helsinki in 1890, to Zaha Hadid, the first woman architect to receive the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2004. From Norma Merrick Sklarek, defined as the Rosa Parks of architecture, the first African American woman to join the profession in 1954, to modernist design icons such as Charlotte Perriand and Eileen Gray.

From Ada Louise Huxtable, the inventor of architectural criticism in the 1960s with her column in the New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, to Italian “pioneers” such as landscape architect Maria Teresa Parpagliolo, to some of the most interesting and representative exponents of the world of contemporary architecture. Among them, the renowned Elizabeth Diller and Kazuyo Sejima or the young emerging Francesca Torzo and Lucy Styles, already present in the MAXXI Architettura collection.

These are some of the protagonists of the exhibition GOOD NEWS. women in architecture, curated by Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi and Elena Tinacci, with a setting designed by Matilde Cassani, which will be hosted at MAXXI from 16th December 2021 to 11th September 2022. Among the sponsors of the exhibition is Groupama Assicurazioni, which confirms its commitment to culture alongside MAXXI.

Through a historical narrative and a broad overview of the current international situation, the exhibition recounts the evolution of the architectural profession over the last century, overcoming the stereotype of the ‘great master’ as the undisputed head of the studio in favor of a new geography of the profession in which the presence of women is becoming increasingly strong and authoritative. This “anthropological mutation” reflects a series of epochal changes in society and, consequently, in the role of architecture, which today is confronted with social and environmental issues, with technology, activism for gender equality and against all forms of discrimination.

The curators comment: “GOOD NEWS is an important exhibition for MAXXI, allowing us to continue our intention of narrating an evolving architectural universe and promoting the best energies. There are at least three themes that we would like to highlight. The first one is the increasing process of liberation of the professional world of architecture from the prejudices and habits that have often held back the affirmation of women and other “non-standard” subjects (collectives, couples, open formations);

The second one has to do with the impression that the enlargement of the professional audience in the sense of gender equality positively contributes to the ability of architecture to respond to the urgencies of the present, especially in terms of ecological sensitivity, inclusiveness, social sustainability; the last topic, finally, sees Italy, where we find many women among the best emerging (or emerged) designers, as an advanced example of this transformation”.

GOOD NEWS is divided into four thematic areas: STORIES, PRACTICES, NARRATIONS, VISIONS and includes the site-specific installation UNSEEN by Frida Escobedo.

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