ROME OPEN CITY
by Kristen Lorello



"In the last decade, the model for an art gallery has been, once again, that of a clean and neutral space, large and suitable for passive fruition. I do not believe in this presumed neutrality, and have the impression that it functions to legitimate rules and values; pretending to be just a frame, it functions as an enclosure." So wrote Italian artist Cesare Pietroiusti in 1992, invoking the historical avant-garde’s commitment to reintegrating art into everyday life by critically addressing art’s own institutional frame. Several recent exhibitions in Rome demonstrated a continuing preoccupation with such issues.

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