MAXXI Architecture Film Lab

The representation of architecture, ever since Palladio and Alberti who were the first ones to use images in their treaties, has somehow changed architecture itself. Drawings, sketches, paintings at first, photography, film and computer graphics afterwards, made the social role, the political message and the cultural value of architecture accessible and relevant to a wider public in every part of the world. It is no particular wonder then that this aspect of design has always received particular attention from architects who in time have turned to professional photographers and artists to document and interpret their projects. 

More recently, thanks to a simplified access to technology and its larger availability, architects, especially among younger generations, are increasingly benefitting from photography and video as a powerful research tool that allows for an accurate and somehow intimate investigation of the built environment and for a more dynamic and engaging representation of their ideas and visions. Symmetrically video and media-artists are focusing their interest towards architecture as a dense repository of ideology, spatial conflicts and consumption, transforming it into an essential narrative tool and, sometimes, even the main character in their stories.

The MAXXI Architecture Film Lab, promoted and organized by MAXXI, takes shape starting from the growing recognition of this exciting contamination between languages and art forms which aims to develop new expressive tools and knowledge shared in the younger generation of architects and video artists. The program will include a series of lectures, meetings with artists and experts, as well as workshops aimed at creating short architectural video works. The group of participants - composed of architects and video artists - will have the opportunity to explore the art of videomaking as a new way of investigating, questioning and reflecting on this year theme: the new New in architecture.

The MAXXI Architecture Film Lab will give participants the tools to analyze the topic from various points of view in the attempt to provide possible answers to the questions: what is new today in architecture? How is the world changing in terms of space and its design? What is a break through design concept that we should start considering? What direction is architecture taking? What is the future going to look like in the eyes of architects?"

Collaboration with LINA fellows

LINA fellows will have the opportunity to investigate the theme of the new New in architecture and to illustrate their research through video artworks. They will be supported by video artist Jasmina Cibic who will follow and guide the production of their video works throughout the workshop. Their journey will start with a theoretical introduction to the theme by James Taylor-Foster, curator of Contemporary Architecture and Design at ArkDes in Stockholm, and will proceed with tutoring sessions and workshops held by architecture video experts. Their video artworks will then be presented at the Demanio Marittimo.KM-278 architecture marathon in July 2023.