The Istituto Svizzero di Roma presents Open Doors Roma, a calendar of encounters organised for the members of the arts and sciences sector of the ISR and structured around the idea of the contemporary representation of the city of Rome. The programme, which involves a series of visits to different locations, will concentrate on themes of self-representation, drawing attention to the way in which the city, more or less consciously, narrates itself. The calendar, divided into five encounters, features the participation of certain significant figures from the Roman artistic and cultural world and members of the ISR.

Open Doors Roma deepens and questions the relationship between the urban fabric of Rome and the people and institutions, both local and foreign, that operate within it: the “internal” and the “external” gaze meet, highlighting the relationship that is established between two points of view in terms of representation.

Max Renkel, Elisabetta Benassi, Luca Vitone, Andrea Jemolo and Gianfranco Baruchello each chose six locations that describe and contain some of the salient aspects of a Roman reality. The visits will be a time during which to contrast different and contradictory aspects of the representation of Rome: the conscious construction of a self-image and the unconscious and incessant production of meaning that the city has generated over the course of its historical and social development. From the new residential architecture projects in the suburbs, to the hidden Rome of academics and collectors, from the experiments of extra-urban artistic isolation, to the archives that hold parts of the history of Rome, an arbitrary and transdisciplinary itinerary is outlined, rich with reflections on the identity of the city and its inhabitants.

OPEN DOORS ROMA 2013
curated by NERO

Guests: Max Renkel, Elisabetta Benassi, Luca Vitone, Andrea Jemolo, Gianfranco Baruchello

Members: Benoît Billotte, Chiara Croci, Clara Fivaz, Yves Fournier, Damaris Gehr, Sabine Gisin, Florian Graf, Vladimir Ivanovici, Pascal Janovjak, Tano Nunnari, Hitomi Omata-Rappo, Anne Rochat, Werner Rohner, Susann Vécsey & Christoph Schmidt, Marie Velardi, Delphine Wehrli

The programme of encounters will close with a lecture/screening organised by Tijana Mamula on the theme of the representation of Rome in the work of a selection of film directors.

The programme, aimed in particular at the members of the ISR, is open to the public, subject to reservation for each appointment until they are booked out.