Features
June 2020
Black Lives Matter
In the midst of a global pandemic that has disproportionately affected communities of color, racially motivated violence is a reminder that systemic racism still persists.
Visualizing Change at Cinque Mostre 2020: Convergence
Roman columns next to cartoonish clouds embossed on velvet cloth, a Greek tragedy reinterpreted with ancient and modern language, fragmented conversations projected on speakers. Hundreds of people filled the Academy’s courtyard, cryptoporticus, library, and gallery spaces for the opening of this year’s annual exhibition, Cinque Mostre: Convergence.
Encounters
In celebration of the Academy’s 125th anniversary, the exhibitions Encounters I: Abstracting Rome and Encounters II: The Activist Gesture investigate the enduring impact of the city of Rome as a dynamic creative laboratory through a series of interdisciplinary exchanges.
Encounters I: Abstracting Rome
Encounters I identifies the abstracting techniques resulting from three historic encounters; the second part traces how those techniques are employed in recent contemporary works responding to pressing social and political issues in the United States.
Encounters II: The Activist Gesture
Pairing the artist Julie Mehretu and the architect J. Meejin Yoon, Encounters II explores the role of abstract forms and gestural mark making as indices and agents of social and political change in contemporary American society.
April 2020
In Memoriam: Nancy O’Boyle
Nancy Millar O’Boyle, a member of the American Academy in Rome’s Board of Trustees from 1985 to 2011, died on March 25, 2020. She was one week shy of her 89th birthday.
March 2020
AAR to Close Rome Campus Early, on April 3
The American Academy in Rome’s campus will close on April 3.
In Memoriam: Henry N. Cobb
The modernist architect Henry N. Cobb, an AAR Trustee Emeritus and 1992 Resident, has died.
February 2020
Art, Video, and Live Performance Converge in Rome
Hundreds of people last week filled the American Academy in Rome’s courtyard, cryptoporticus, library, and art spaces to view artists and performers showcase their work and explore this year’s theme, “Convergence,” in the yearly Cinque Mostre exhibition.
Avinoam Shalem Appointed 24th Director of the American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is pleased to announce the selection of historian and educator Avinoam Shalem (2016 Resident) to be its 24th Director.
January 2020
Talking to Strangers: Art and Democracy in These Times
By Claudia Trezza.
Political philosopher Danielle Allen and visual artist Theaster Gates picked up on this year’s Academy theme, “Encounters,” to delve into a conversation on democracy, art, and social activism.
In Memoriam: Michael I. Sovern
The American Academy in Rome mourn the passing of former Trustee Michael I. Sovern.
December 2019
Conversation with Peter Benson Miller about “Encounters I”
Claudia Trezza spoke with Peter Benson Miller, curator of Encounters I, about his ideas for the exhibition, which investigates the enduring impact of the city of Rome as a dynamic creative laboratory through a series of interdisciplinary exchanges.
After Charlottesville
Three leaders in art, architecture, and culture—Julie Mehretu, J. Meejin Yoon, and Adam Weinberg—sat down for an incisive conversation at the American Academy in Rome last month.
