Rome Contemporary

The research area Rome Contemporary focuses on reevaluating Rome as a hub of artistic production in the 20th and 21st centuries. Since the early 1900s, the city has witnessed several contrasting phenomena with respect to its art scene and the subsequent scholarship: on one hand, an increasing peripheralization, and on the other, emphasis on its endurance and the revival of its historical role as a center of artistic training and international exchange—a legacy that continues to impact the city’s position today. 

By challenging outdated art historical interpretations, Rome Contemporary welcomes innovative research on the Roman art scene that prioritizes multidisciplinary and transnational perspectives, proposes alternative narratives, and uncovers untold histories. The aim is to challenge the common assumption that the city lost its far-reaching influence in the late modern and contemporary era; and to support research projects in art history and visual culture that examine the conditions of production, reception, and circulation of objects, artists, exhibitions, and cultural agents in Rome and beyond. Reacting against the universalizing tendencies affecting current scholarship on 20th and 21st-century art, Rome Contemporary focuses on the tension between local and global processes that characterize contemporary art practices in a specific urban space. This methodological shift invites new approaches to the concept of “identity”, situating Rome as a heterogenous space experienced by an international cross-section of artists, writers, curators, and political actors. This research focus aims to re-negotiate understandings of the idea of “local” by emphasizing the transnational networks of exchange that reflect complex dynamics of media, space, and time. The discussion resulting from this approach questions the validity of historiographic findings, canons, and structures of thought that have governed the study of Italian contemporary art.