Buone Nuove/Good News – Women In Architecture – from MAXXI to MET

Toronto Metropolitan University is thrilled to host the internationally acclaimed architecture exhibition “Buone Nuove: Good News from Italy,” which first opened at the MAXXI museum in Rome in 2022. After traveling to Stockholm, Doha, New Delhi and Berlin, Buone Nuove/Good News opens at TMU’s Paul H. Cocker Gallery in the Department of Architectural Science for its inaugural North American showing on September 5, 2024.

Curated by Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi and Elena Tinacci, this traveling exhibition features works and words of dozens of Italian and global women architects who have changed the field of architecture and are empowering a new generation of inclusive city-builders. The exhibition offers a new and more comprehensive perspective of architecture by showing how women and women-led collectives have elevated the quality of modern and contemporary design.

The exhibition is presented in images, artifacts and videos via four curatorial lens: 

• Stories. Featuring achievements of 21 notable Italian women architects, from the first lady architecture graduate in 1925, to internationally accomplished designers of the post-war period and present day, to emerging practitioners and provocateurs.
• Practices. Showcasing significant built works of six internationally acclaimed women architects who are impacting Italian design culture in collaboration with Italian professionals.
• Narrations. Including 12 video interviews with women transforming architecture through practices of activism, scholarship, writing, curation, academic leadership, and philanthropy.
• Visions. Presenting five experimental videos exploring relationships between gender and space, created as part of the 2021 MAXXI Architecture Film Summer School.

From MAXXI to MET

This traveling MAXXI exhibition is complemented by three additional displays focused on women architects working in the Toronto region and at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Empowering Practices.Highlighting prominent women architects in and around Toronto who are positively impacting communities and the architecture of the city through built works, practice innovation, leadership, mentorship, and advocacy.

Postcards to Progress. Sharing a wide variety of initiatives, projects, manifestos and messages by individuals and groups supporting women and diversity in architecture. A selection will celebrate work by the women architect-educators and student leaders of TMU’s Department of Architectural Science.

Good News Café. Facilitating open dialogue and ‘a place at the table’ for anyone working toward equity in architecture. A trio of cafe tables will host conversations on current issues and be activated with micro events during the five-week show.

Want to be part of this exhibition?

Submit a postcard! 
Open to students, interns, professionals, educators, researchers, artists, writers, makers, thinkers, and anyone supporting women in architecture who has a project, manifesto or message to share. Multiple submissions are welcome! Details here.

Join the opening! 
A reception and panel discussion will take place on September 5th, 2024, 5:30-8:30pm. Space is limited. Registration coming soon.

Visit the show!
Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm from September 5th to October 10th, 2024. The Paul H. Cooper Gallery is on the main floor (200 level) of TMU’s Architecture Building located at 325 Church St., just south of Gerrard Street East, Toronto. Accessible entrance at the east entrance. If you require accessibility assistance, please let Toronto Metropolitan University know by contacting arch.office@torontomu.ca.