meeting

Around Louise Bourgeois

Tenendo per mano l'ombra

Philosophy and Poetry

04.07.2024

This meeting is part ofEsistere come Donna, a program of encounters accompanying the exhibition Louise Bourgeois. Unconscious memories at the Galerie Borghese from June 21 to September 15. The program is promoted by Galerie Borghese and designed and produced by Electa. Mâkhi Xenakis is an emblematic figure in the latter part of Louise Bourgeois’ life. The two women met in the late 1980s, at the famous “Salons” held at the artist’s home on Sunday afternoons. Xenakis continued to associate with Bourgeois for many years, her artistic practice deeply influenced by that of the Franco-American artist, to whom she dedicated two books. Laura Accerboni is a poet and photographer. Her works are often in dialogue with contemporary artworks. Her latest collection of poems, Il prima e il dopo dell’acqua, was recently published by Einaudi. The presence of these two voices will enable us to present Louise Bourgeois’ work from a more intimate, personal perspective. A unique opportunity to reflect on memorial practices and the various forms of preserving the memory of an artist and her work. It will also be possible to visit Louise Bourgeois’s works No Exit and Sainte Sébastienne, exhibited at Villa Médicis.

Practical information

Free
Event translated into French and Italian, subject to availability of headphones With Mâkhi Xenakis and Laura Accerboni

Mâkhi Xenakis

Born in 1956 in Paris, where she lives and works, Mâkhi Xenakis divides her time between sculpture, drawing and writing. In 1987, she was awarded a Villa Médicis Hors les murs scholarship in the painting section for a two-year stay in New York. It was there that she had a decisive encounter with Louise Bourgeois, whom she saw regularly for over twenty years. Among the books she has written, two are about Louise Bourgeois: Louise Bourgeois, l’aveugle guidant l’aveugle (Actes Sud / Galerie Lelong 1998) and Louise, sauvez-moi! (Actes Sud 2018) Her work has been exhibited in numerous public and private collections, including the Orlando Museum of Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Manufacture des Gobelins, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Musée Zadkine, BNF, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest, MAC Strasbourg and Fondation Guerlain.

Laura Accerboni

Laura Accerboni (1985) is a poet and photographer. She has published the poetry collections Il prima e il dopo dell’acqua (Einaudi, 2024), Acqua acqua fuoco (Einaudi, 2020), La parte dell’annegato (Nottetempo, 2015; Eloisa Cartonera, 2019) and Attorno a ciò che non è stato (Edizioni del Leone, 2010).
Her poems have been published in several Italian and foreign journals, and she has received several literary awards including the Lerici Pea giovani (1996), Premio internazionale di poesia Piero Alinari (2011) and Premio Achille Marazza Opera Prima (2012). Her poems have been translated into over fifteen languages, and she has been invited to numerous international festivals in the Netherlands, Belgium, Macedonia, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Argentina. Since 2016, she has been one of the poets selected as part of the Versopolis project promoted by the European Union.