Curated by Hou Hanru and Anne Palopoli

A gigantic expanse of mattresses covering more than one hundred square meters, dominated by another, identical but upside down, to create a muffled cavern , a subtle space for play or meditation in which the public is invited to climb and enter. At the entrance, suspended above the heads of the public a dense weave of cushions knotted on themselves and colored in yellow and red. Intense fragrances that spread in the air from the sculptures of tiny sofas dripping with perfume. The space is totally rethought, the large and the small confront each other and the works encourage interaction from the public. IT'S PAOLA PIVI. World record , the monographic that MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, dedicates to this surprising artist, Leone d'Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1999.
Designed specifically for the fluid environments of MAXXI, the exhibition is the story of the imagination of an artist who, through her works, gives life to a new form of reality, ironic and exaggerated, made up of great contrasts, of overwhelming gestures, of objects taken from everyday life that acquire a new, original look, showing other possible interpretations of meaning. Whether they are mammoth or tiny works, Pivi's captivating works change the spirit of the place that hosts them and activate the visitor's senses, subverting the classic boundaries between public space and intimacy. The visit to the exhibition begins under a vast grid of hundreds of soft shapes intertwined and suspended in mid-air: Share, but it's not fair (2012) , a work composed of yellow and red cushions, made with the fabrics of the robes of Tibetan monks, it forms an abstract but at the same time three-dimensional graphic. "The title (Share, but it's not fair) is like the lament of a child who has been forced to share an ice cream despite not wanting to do so" - says the artist - "Walking under the large expanse of cushions is enchanting , it's like exploring a magical world. "