Another life. Franco Battiato, all-round genius, on display at the MAXXI – Rome – Arte.it

Roma – A journey beyond music, beyond time, through the many facets of the singer-songwriter, musician, poet, philosopher and intellectual Franco Battiato.
It is a 360 degree journey to discover the life and work of the great Sicilian singer-songwriter who was able to cross different genres and languages, from avant-garde to pop, from electronic to mystical, the exhibition event Franco Battiato. Another life dedicated to the artist by the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts five years after his death.
Until April 26, memories, unpublished material and rare documents form a layered portrait that tells about the resilience and cultural heritage of the museum. The heart of the route, co-produced by the Ministry of Culture and the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, curated by Giorgio Calcara with Grazia Cristina Battiato and organized by COR Creare Organize Realize by Alessandro Nicosia, in collaboration with the Franco Battiato ETS Foundation, is an octagonal space, a symbolic echo of the musical octave, where five video clips envelop the visitor in a synaesthetic experience.
Franco Battiato. Another life | Photo: © Cosimo Trimboli

The seven thematic sections that mark this journey start with his debut in the 1960s, his move from Sicily to Milan and his debut as a pop singer-songwriter, supported by Giorgio Gaber. If the 1970s marked the arrival of avant-garde and electronic research, inspired by figures such as John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the period between the late 1970s and the 1990s marked the arrival of the general public. High culture, spirituality and accessible electronics come together The era of the white boar and most importantly The voice of the masterwhile it is the period of memorable songs with Alice, Milva and Giuni Russo. Mysticism (between East and West) delves into the growing interest in spirituality, esotericism and Eastern philosophies, influenced by the thinking of Gurdjieff and Sufism. It follows, no The man (back to the origins) the choice to leave Milan and return to Milo, on Etna, where Battiato leads a secluded life, dedicated to meditation, between painting, reading and meditation, experienced as a return to his origins. His figure of cultural and moral guide, recognized for his generosity, rigor and irony, despite rejecting the label of guru, is consolidated in the section The Master (like a diamond)while highlighting the central role of the partnership with the philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, which began in 1994 and from which emerge some of the most compact pages of contemporary Italian culture.

Franco Battiato. Another life | Photo: © Cosimo Trimboli

The cinematographic activity of the past decades, with films such as Performing love e musiciansas well as documentaries and exploding soundtracks From sound to image (Battiato’s Cinema). Album covers, historic posters, photographs and rare memorabilia enrich the journey and restore the versatility of an artist whose career spanned more than fifty years as an extraordinary trailblazer. There is no shortage of pictorial inspiration that makes space through quiet and contemplative painting, characterized by golden backgrounds, symbols and archetypes of Middle Eastern ancestors.