On the occasion of the 19th edition of Contemporary Art Day – promoted by AMACI, the Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, with support from the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and collaboration from the Directorate General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Diamond Schmitt Architects and MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, present a lecture by architect, author, critic, curator and professor, Pippo Ciorra – and architect and co-founder and director of Labics (Rome), Maria Claudia Clemente.
BUONE NUOVE GOOD NEWS
Women In Architecture
Tuesday, October 3 | 6:30PM
Spadina Theatre
Alliance Française
24 Spadina Rd | Toronto ON
FREE EVENT | REGISTRATION REQUIRED
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT ON EVENTBRITE
Curated by MAXXI’s Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi, and Elena Tinacci, the Buone Nuove/Good News exhibition in Rome, Italy, brings together the work of groundbreaking designers from across history and the globe, showcasing the critical work of historical architects, collectives of the 1970s, and contemporary practitioners.
Following upon the exhibition’s success at MAXXI last summer, Pippo Ciorra will be joined by Maria Claudia Clemente, one of the protagonists of the exhibition and an outstanding designer, researcher and educator in Italy, to discuss the expansive issues that informed the exhibition.
A Q&A will follow, moderated by architect Cecily Eckhardt of Diamond Schmitt.
Presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, Diamond Schmitt Architects and MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo
ABOUT MARIA CLAUDIA CLEMENTE
Maria Claudia Clemente (1967) graduated in 1992 from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” where she has been Associate Professor since 2022 and is responsible for a Design atelier on the subject of Public & Exhibit Design. Over time she has been an adjunct professor at Cornell University, Rome and Ithaca. She is the author of numerous texts on the role of public space in the contemporary city.
Presently, she practices in Rome, where in 2002, she founded Labics together with Francesco Isidori. Labics has won several national and international architectural competitions, including MAST in Bologna (2006-2013) and Città del Sole in Rome (2007-2016), both completed and selected for the Mies van der Rohe Awards.
In 2021, Labics won two important competitions: one for the realization of the new arena plan for the Colosseum in Rome and the second one for the realization of the new Womb tower in Milan. In 2023, Palazzo dei Diamanti was completed and widely publicized.
Labics showed its works in several collective exhibitions, among which the 11°, 12° and 14° Venice Architectural Biennale and the Make City Festival in Berlin in 2015 and in two monographic exhibitions: “Structures” held at Studio Stefania Miscetti and at MAXXI in Rome and “La Città Aperta” at the Laboratorio Casabella, Milano.
Maria Claudia Clemente is regularly invited to give lectures on Labics projects and research and to lead design workshops at various Italian and international universities, including Università La Sapienza, Università Roma Tre, Cornell University, The University of Iowa, University of Syracuse, Tulane University and University of Hannover.
ABOUT PIPPO CIORRA
Full professor at SAAD (UNICAM), critic, writer, director of the PhD program “Villard d’Honnecourt” at IUAV. Author of books and essays, a member of CICA (International Committee of Architectural Critics), and advisor for the EU Mies van der Rohe Award for architecture. Co-director of the MAXXI-Triennale Italian Prize for Architecture. He was part of the 1991 Architecture Venice Biennale curatorial team and juror for the 2016 edition. He has curated exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Since 2009, he has been the Senior Curator of MAXXI Architettura in Rome, where he curated, among other shows, Re-cycle, Energy, Food, Piccole Utopie, and The Japanese House. In 2018, he co-curated Bruno Zevi. History and Counter-History of Italian Architecture, in 2020, the collection display At Home. He curates the Italian edition of YAP, the MoMA PS1 international program for young architects. He also co-curates Demanio Marittimo km 278 (Senigallia), a yearly festival dedicated to culture and arts, is a co-founder of Future Architecture, a European platform for young talents, and has co-directed the inter-disciplinary research program Housing the Human, based in Berlin.
ABOUT CECILY ECKHARDT
Cecily Eckhardt practices architecture with the conviction that good design can facilitate positive change. This passion inspires her to take on complex projects that challenge convention and set new benchmarks. She embraces design from the early programming and schematic phases all the way through construction, seeking to keep the big ideas at play through the careful execution of the design details.
Cecily is a LEED Green Associate and a Passive House Certified Designer. At Diamond Schmitt, Cecily has contributed to a number of innovative projects, including the LEED Platinum certified canmetMATERIALS Technology Laboratory at McMaster Innovation Park; the Public Health Ontario laboratories at MaRs; the Residence and Culinary Arts School for Centennial College; the Laboratory Modernization for Environment and Climate Change at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters; and more recently, the New Vic at McGill University.
In addition to project work, Cecily enjoys sharing her knowledge and has presented at both academic and professional design workshops and seminars. A graduate of McGill University, Cecily holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto and a Master of Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
