Cosmowomen: Places as Constellations

On June 21 the exhibition Cosmowomen: Places as Constellations, curated by the architect Izaskun Chinchilla, is going to open at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. The exhibition that was meant to open back in June 2020 inhabits the space of the Salone Centrale with three complex and monumental structures made of sustainable materials. The structures are inspired by three armillary spheres, reduced models of the cosmos seen from the terrestrial perspective, used as astronomical instruments in antiquity and the Middle Ages to determine the position of celestial bodies.

The three monumental spheres—the Gynaeceum, the Onsen and the Parliament—represent three places of coexistence that have played an important role in the construction of the common culture of women, while also representing places of exclusion or segregation. Through those spheres, the exhibition reflects on the relationship that the sexed bodies create with, respectively, the intimate, natural and public space.

Based on these symbolic places and by developing multiple sub-spheres, the new generations of female architects present in the show the alternative models of designing as well as relating to space, other human beings and the planet, putting together some reflections on forms of living, co-living and collaboration.

The fundamental hypothesis of the exhibition is that the full integration of women in the professional and academic field of architecture would generate new “places of reflection,” or consolidate and expand the existing ones, by ultimately intensifying the relationships between those places and by creating a sort of a constellation.

Through a rich selection of 71 projects and 283 graphic images and drawings, the exhibition presents the work of 65 women architects from over 20 countries who come from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.

A webseries that will explore the exhibition, the forthcoming catalog and other collateral activities, including the Cosmoschool, will appear on What’s on?, the blog of the Galleria Nazionale, with a new chapter coming out every week until the opening date.

Cosmowomen: Places as Constellations has been created with the support of the CDP (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) and in partnership with Bartlett School of Architecture.