“FABIO MAURI. ART AND IDEOLOGY”: In Carrara, an exhibition celebrating the centenary of one of the leading figures in 20th-century Italian art
From February 13 to March 29, 2026, Palazzo del Medico in Piazza Alberica in Carrara will host Fabio Mauri. Art and Ideology, an exhibition dedicated to the Roman artist, writer, and intellectual Fabio Mauri (Rome, 1926–2009), one of the most lucid and radical figures in Italian art of the late 20th century, on the centenary of his birth.
Curated by Angelo Capasso—art critic, professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, and artistic director of the Com.unità dell’arte diffusa project—and organized in collaboration with the Studio Fabio Mauri in Rome, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the artist’s work, focusing on the theme that ran constantly and transversally through all his research: ideology.
On display is a significant body of work that reflects the complexity of Mauri’s visual thinking, in which art, history, and critical awareness are inextricably intertwined. Films and video documentation of his most famous performances—including What is Fascism, Ideology and Nature, and Bombed Europe—interact with historical installations, sculptures, and drawings. Among these, one of his most emblematic masterpieces stands out: The Western Wall or Wailing Wall, a threshold work that synthesizes in plastic form the relationship between power, memory, and representation.
Alongside the well-known works, the exhibition also presents unpublished works, including some pieces from the cycle Formazione di un pensiero anarchico (Formation of an Anarchist Thought), originally conceived in 1973 and reworked by the artist in a 1995 version never before exhibited to the public, Il Ritratto dell’Anarchico Galli (The Portrait of the Anarchist Galli) and a selection of works on paper belonging to the cycle Celebrity.
This collection helps to restore the extraordinary relevance of Mauri’s reflection, which is still capable of questioning the mechanisms through which ideology insinuates itself into images, languages, and systems of thought.
As Angelo Capasso points out in the catalog, the exhibition:
“aims to give visual consistency to a philosophical concept that has also played a central role in the history of Carrara, presenting the work of an artist who recognized in art the ability to make ideology visible and to act deeply on our consciousness.”
Fabio Mauri. Art and Ideology is part of the calendar of C.O.M. – Com.unità dell’arte diffusa (City Open Museum), a widespread art project promoted by the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and funded under the PNRR, which involves 18 Italian academic institutions in a network of exhibitions, events, and research projects with free admission. An open-air and ‘mental’ museum that transforms cities, villages, and public spaces into places of experimentation, dialogue, and cultural sharing.
Fabio Mauri (Rome, 1926–2009) was one of the most important Italian artists and intellectuals of the second half of the 20th century. He made his debut in 1954 with a solo exhibition at the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice, and in 1957 he created his first Schermo, a seminal work in his research. Active in the visual arts, theater, publishing, and writing, he frequented the Roman scene around Piazza del Popolo, collaborated with the Bompiani publishing house and the poets of Gruppo 63, and participated in the founding of the magazine Quindici.
Starting in the 1970s, his work focused on the theme of ideology, which he addressed in a radical way through performances and installations such as Che cosa è il fascismo (What is Fascism, 1971), Ebrea (Jewess) and Intellettuale (Intellectual, 1975), in which the artist investigated the mechanisms of power, memory, and representation. Central to his poetics is the idea that “the whole world is a screen”: cinema, light, and image become tools for revealing how ideology acts on bodies and objects, generating new meanings.
Since 1979, he has taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in L’Aquila, where he has created important collective performances with his students. In 2000, he founded the Studio Fabio Mauri – Associazione per l’Arte L’Esperimento del Mondo, dedicated to the production and preservation of his work and archive.
His works have been exhibited in some of the most prestigious international institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, PS1 in New York, MOCA in Los Angeles, and Castello di Rivoli, and presented at Documenta in Kassel and the Venice Biennale.
His work continues to be a fundamental reference point for critical reflection on the relationship between art, history, and ideology.
INFO MOSTRA
Fabio Mauri. Arte e ideologia
a cura di Angelo Capasso
in collaborazione con Studio Fabio Mauri – Roma
coordinamento e organizzazione: Fabiola Manfredi
📍 Palazzo del Medico, Piazza Alberica 5 – Carrara
📅 13 febbraio – 29 marzo 2026
🎉 Inaugurazione: venerdì 13 febbraio, ore 18.00
🕒 Orari: martedì–domenica, 15.00–19.00
🎟️ Ingresso gratuito
🌐 www.cityopenmuseum.com
🌐 www.fabiomauri.com
