THE ITALIAN ART GUIDE

Menu
ACCOUNT

DOWNLOAD THE OFFSEEN APP AND EXPLORE EXHIBITIONS

DOWNLOAD THE OFFSEEN APP AND EXPLORE EXHIBITIONS

The Poetics of the Apparatus – Rosa Barba at MAXXI


The Poetics of the Apparatus – Rosa Barba at MAXXI

By Dobroslawa Nowak

25.02.2026

Clicca qui per leggere questo articolo in italiano

A large yet balanced arrangement of “living” cinematic apparatus bisects the space, placing us at the heart of a peculiar laboratory. Arranged along a curved line, each object performs a meticulously designed role—within the space, in relation to one another, and according to its own narrative arc—all working to a steady, resonant rhythmic beat and pulsating lights.
The spatial arrangement, precisely lit to highlight sculptural and painterly installations and accompanied by a compelling sonic component, offers an absorbing aesthetic experience. At the MAXXI Gian Ferrari Hall, Frame Time Open by Rosa Barba, curated by Francesco Stocchi, on view until 08.03.2026, draws the viewer in from the very first steps.​

Rosa Barba, Frame Time Open, photo © Andrea Rosetti, courtesy the artist

Frame Time Open is the largest solo exhibition in Italy dedicated to the artist and filmmaker Rosa Barba. Spanning more than two decades of her work, the show brings together a selection of her most significant films and sculptural pieces, including a new 35 mm film and a kinetic sculpture created especially for the exhibition.1 Although it functions as a retrospective, it is not a summary; rather, it offers yet another rediscovery of the artist’s practice, both for viewers, the curator, the museum, and, most likely, for Barba herself.

Rosa Barba, Frame Time Open, photo © Andrea Rosetti, courtesy the artist, Esther Shipper, Vistamare

All too often, exhibitions prioritize understanding over experience; only rarely are they structured to allow the artwork itself to draw the audience in. This seems to stem from two factors: practical limitations, as some works are simply not designed to “impress,” and strict adherence to conceptual rigor, which, in certain contexts and among some professionals, is regarded as more serious or valuable. Frame Time Open is a prime example where conceptual and experiential elements are balanced with near-scientific precision.

The works, arranged throughout the museum space, involve a range of cinema apparatus: analogue film projectors, often 16 mm and 35 mm (e.g., Stating the Real Sublime, 2009); loops of film stock threaded through mechanisms that create kinetic and sculptural forms (e.g., Off Splintered Time, 2021, and Poised Compression, 2023); and other modified projection equipment designed to function as part of the sculptural system, such as the projector paired with a typewriter in Spacelength Thought, 2012.

Rosa Barba, Frame Time Open, photo ©M3Studio, courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

The physicality of celluloid is brought to the fore, steering clear of a romantic or sentimental ode to analog. This raw approach is evident in Stating the Real Sublime (2009), where the material guides the machine. A 16mm projector is suspended from the ceiling and held in balance by photographic film, which it normally governs. The machine is on, but the resulting image, gathering dust and scratches, isn’t our focus this time. The artist’s interest in “dismantling the status quo of cinema,” as she noted in a conversation with Ana Prendes for Arts.CERN points to anarchism as a foundation for both political and artistic thinking, with an optimistic and egalitarian spirit.2

Barba’s oeuvre spans virtually all known media: from film to sculpture (e.g., Weavers, 2025) to poetry (Language Infinity Sphere, 2018) to painting. In Color Studies (2009), two projectors face each other, sharing a single screen on which each projects recordings of a photographic color spectrum (red, yellow, blue). The two machines create a single composition, generating endless variations. There is perhaps nothing more painterly than the spontaneous yet elusive infinity of colors produced by this union, not to mention the fineness of their origin and, simultaneously, of their physical arrangement.

The artist mentions that her work considers cinema “[…] an instrument, in which the environment, the screen, and the projection can be combined or pushed forward to create another spatiotemporal dimension concurrent with and beyond the context of interior or exterior space. Uncertainty and speculation exist within that expanded space.”1

Rosa Barba, Frame Time Open, photo ©M3Studio, courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

Looking back, From Source to Poem to Rhythm to Reader (Pirelli HangarBicocca, 2021) emphasized poetic language and conceptual sequences, while Frame Time Open (MAXXI, 2026) creates an immersive sensory experience through cinematic apparatus, light, sound, and site-specific arrangement of space.

It remains striking that an exhibition composed almost entirely of machines behaving predictably—although, as Barba noted, “The interesting thing about machines, and algorithms too, is that you can never exactly tame them”—turns out to be the most poetic display I’ve seen this month.

Rosa Barba, Frame Time Open, photo ©M3Studio, courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

¹ Frame Time Open, Rosa Barba, MAXXI – https://www.maxxi.art/en/events/rosa-barba-frame-time-open
² Rosa Barba: “The interesting thing about machines, and algorithms too, is that you can never exactly tame them”, Arts.CERN – https://arts.cern/rosa-barba-the-interesting-thing-about-machines-and-algorithms-too-is-that-you-can-never-exactly-tame-them

Exhibition Details:
Title: Frame Time Open – Rosa Barba
Venue: MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Gian Ferrari Hall, Rome, Italy
Dates: On view until 8 March 2026
Curator: Francesco Stocchi