On March 13, 2025 the Italian Cultural Institute in New York opened Dialogues Between Italy and America: Jannis Kounellis, Maria Lai and Lucio Pozzi, an exhibition focusing on three pioneering artists from Italy with ties to the United States. Organized by the Institute in collaboration with Magazzino Italian Art, and curated by Paola Mura in consultation with David Ebony, the exhibition represents each artist with a single work being shown in New York for the first time.
The exhibition embraces Umberto Eco’s idea, introduced in his 2007 essay The Museum of the Third Millennium, that a truly powerful museum experience comes from immersing oneself in a single work. Maria Lai echoed this sentiment in 2004, stating, “A work of art should be seen for several days and looked at in silence and alone, in an empty space, which unfortunately no museum offers us.”
Envisioned like an echo of Magazzino’s current exhibitions—Jannis Kounellis, part of the permanent collection of Arte Povera; Maria Lai. A Journey to America and Lucio Pozzi: qui dentro / in here—this show offers a focused, immersive experience. Each section is built around a single, emblematic work, inviting visitors to pause, observe, and engage deeply. This approach fosters a more intimate connection with the artists’ visions while emphasizing the lasting artistic exchange between Italy and the United States.
Jannis Kounellis’s Senza Titolo (Omaggio a Fontana) from 1986 is a large-scale work composed of five steel panels: four of them are clad in a lead sheets, while one of them is painted with a vibrant, intense coat of red enamel. In an allusion to Italian artist Lucio Fontana’s cut canvases, Kounellis worked incisions into the lead surface, transforming the material into a field of material and spatial tensions. With its monumental scale, the work creates a powerful visual and conceptual experience, evoking Kounellis’sdeep interest in maintaining a dialogue between past and present.
Maria Lai's Per Ille (1984) is an installation documenting her collaboration with singer Ille Strazza. In that year, Strazza performed an original melody inspired by Lai’s stitched books. The performance took place on a stage designed by the artist: Per Ille includes Lai’s scenic backdrop, which depicts a geography, along with the musical score stitched into paper with thread. Strazza’s original music Il canto dei sassi, recorded during the 1984 performance, is also part of the installation. The work is on view in the Institute’s Galleria Borghese, a space that evokes the atmosphere of a presbytery, further enhancing the liturgical associations of the piece
Lucio Pozzi’s Consular Relocations (2025) were made specially for this exhibition. Currently celebrating his 90th birthday, Pozzi is known for his eclectic practice, which moves fluidly between abstraction and figuration across painting, sculpture, watercolor, photography, and performance. The new work consists of fourteen distinct yet interconnected elements, each named after a sea deity from Greco-Roman culture. Together, the elements express Pozzi’s interest in spatial perception and the interplay of color, form, and structure.
About the Italian Cultural Institute
The Italian Cultural Institute in New York was founded in 1961 by the Italian government. Its mission is to promote Italian language and culture in the United States. Under the guidance of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Director and the staff of the IIC foster cultural exchanges in a variety of areas, from the arts to the humanities, to science and technology. Central to the Italian Cultural Institute’s activity is its collaboration with the most prominent academic and cultural Institutions of the East Coast. In particular, the focus is on the relationship between memory and innovation, opening a window on the different identities and main cultural and social aspects of past and current Italy.
