From April 29 to September 6, 2026, MAXXI L'Aquila presents "AI WEIWEI: Aftershock," an exhibition curated by Tim Marlow featuring approximately seventy works by Chinese artist, architect, and activist Ai Weiwei. The show spans his entire career, focusing on themes of earthquakes, wars, political repression, and memory. The centerpiece is the installation "Straight" (2009–2012), made from 150 tons of steel rods recovered from schools that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, displayed across three rooms. The exhibition is held at Palazzo Ardinghelli, a Baroque building that houses MAXXI L'Aquila and was itself restored after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, creating a dialogue between the works and the building's history of recovery.
This exhibition matters because it directly connects Ai Weiwei's ongoing exploration of catastrophe and resilience to the specific context of L'Aquila, which is serving as the Italian Capital of Culture in 2026. By situating works about the Sichuan earthquake and other conflicts within a city that experienced its own devastating earthquake, the show underscores the universal and enduring nature of trauma and reconstruction. It also highlights the role of art in transforming personal and collective memory into testimony, while the use of unconventional materials like toy bricks and steel rods challenges traditional notions of memorialization and artistic expression.