Almost one hundred works recount over a century of modern and contemporary Italian art through an itinerary that brings great masters, new generations and the most recent developments in cultural cooperation between Italy and China into dialogue.
As part of the programme of cultural initiatives promoted on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and China, the Beijing Guardian Art Center presents Memory and Future. Contemporary Italian Art, one of the largest exhibitions devoted to modern and contemporary Italian art in the Chinese capital.
Organised by the Beijing Guardian Art Center and Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS, coordinated by Beijing Italy-China Cooperation Culture Development Co., Ltd., under the patronage of the Fondazione Italia Cina and with the institutional support of the Italian Embassy in Beijing, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing and the MU-PA – Museo del Parco di Portofino, the exhibition marks a new chapter in the cultural cooperation developed between Italy and China in recent years.
The official opening took place on 20 July 2026 at 4.30 pm at the Beijing Guardian Art Center, while the exhibition was open to the public from 21 July to 9 September 2026.
The exhibition is produced under the direction of Guicciardo Sassoli de' Bianchi Strozzi, with a curatorial and scientific committee composed of Daniele Crippa, Manuela Valentini, Ren Jingge and Giorgia Cestaro, the study group that developed the project and the exhibition itinerary.
Memory and future
More than a chronological reconstruction of modern and contemporary Italian art, Memory and Future offers a reflection on the continuity of Italian culture and on the capacity of tradition to renew itself over time.
The title evokes an idea deeply rooted in both Italian and Chinese civilisation: the capacity of cultural traditions to cross the centuries while continually renewing themselves. The "classical" does not simply belong to the past, but continues to speak to later generations, offering new perspectives and inspiring new forms of creativity. It is this continuity between memory and innovation that constitutes one of the distinctive traits of Italian art and the central thread of the exhibition. Through almost one hundred works, the itinerary unfolds across more than a century of artistic research, relating great masters of the twentieth century, protagonists of the main Italian artistic movements, to contemporary artists who continue to reinterpret tradition through different languages and sensibilities. Far from being a simple historical survey, the exhibition offers a reading of Italian art as a tradition in continual becoming, capable of bringing memory, research and innovation into dialogue.
An itinerary among the protagonists of Italian art
The exhibition unfolds across over 1,000 square metres of exhibition space through six thematic sections:
- The Great Masters
- Modern Perspectives on Classicism
- Nature and the Cosmos: From the Earth to the Unknown
- Conceptual Art: New Possibilities for Everyday Objects
- Design and Space: Art, Architecture and Everyday Perception
- Between China and Italy: Encounter and Re-creation
conceived to offer a cross-cutting reading of modern and contemporary Italian art, bringing different generations, poetics and languages into dialogue.
The itinerary begins with the great masters Giorgio Morandi, Lucio Fontana, Arnaldo Pomodoro and Michelangelo Pistoletto, through works that profoundly marked the history of twentieth-century Italian art. Alongside historic masterpieces, the exhibition presents protagonists of the main artistic seasons of the second half of the century, including Jannis Kounellis, Giorgio Griffa, Mimmo Paladino, Francesco Clemente, Sandro Chia, together with masters such as Bruno Ceccobelli, Tommaso Cascella, Omar Galliani, Luca Caccioni, Carla Tolomeo and numerous figures, including from later generations, represented in the Collezione Farnesina of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, one of the most important public collections devoted to contemporary Italian art, held at the Palazzo della Farnesina in Rome. Many of the artists on display have also shared significant moments of their careers with the Galleria Civica di Portofino and the MU-PA – Museo del Parco di Portofino, institutions that over the decades have accompanied and documented the evolution of contemporary Italian art.
From the cultural programme of Beijing 2008 to the Developments in the Contemporary artist residencies for the Italian Embassy and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing (2025–2026)
One of the most significant sections of the exhibition is devoted to the artistic dialogue between Italy and China developed over recent decades. The section includes works by Fabio Mauri, Giuseppe Gallo, Gian Marco Montesano, Luca Pignatelli, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Ugo Nespolo, Sergio Barletta, Alberto Di Fabio and other artists who produced a series of works within the cultural programme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, extending to the most recent developments in cultural cooperation between the two countries.
Also presented are works created specifically in Beijing within the artist residency programme Developments in the Contemporary, an initiative promoted by the Italian Embassy in China and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing, curated by Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS and the Italy China Council Foundation Academy. The works of Enzo Cacciola, Vincenzo Mascia, Davide Bramante, Luca Pozzi, Matteo Basilé, Davide Sebastian, Flavio Favelli and Daniele Sigalot testify to a form of cultural cooperation based on shared research, direct experience and the production of new works born from dialogue with the Chinese cultural context. The exhibition is further enriched by the presence of artists whose research has developed in the dialogue between Italy and China, such as Zhou Zhiwei, and of members of the youngest generations, including Carloalberto Lucioni, showing how cultural exchange today constitutes a process of mutual growth, knowledge and collaboration.
Memory and Future. Contemporary Italian Art thus offers a reading of contemporary Italian art as a living tradition, capable of continually renewing itself through the dialogue between memory and innovation, between different cultures and between generations. More than recounting a heritage of the past, the exhibition shows how artistic research continues to build new shared perspectives between Italy and China, confirming the role of culture as a privileged ground for international dialogue.
The Guardian Art Center
The Guardian Art Center (嘉德艺术中心), located in Beijing's principal museum and cultural district, was chosen as the exhibition venue for its strategic position and for the role it plays in the international exhibition programming of the Chinese capital. Over the years it has hosted major exhibitions devoted to the great protagonists of world art and culture, from antiquity to the contemporary, including the recent exhibition dedicated to Yves Klein and the major exhibition produced in collaboration with the Palace Museum of the Forbidden City in Beijing, with works by, among others, Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), the celebrated Italian Jesuit artist who worked at the court of the Qing dynasty emperors. Facing the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) and a short distance from Tian'anmen Square and the National Museum of China, the Guardian Art Center hosted Memory and Future. Contemporary Italian Art in the more than 1,000 square metres of its principal ground-floor exhibition space, as the flagship exhibition of the museum's summer programme.
Memory and Future in the context of the major Italian exhibitions in Beijing
2026 represents a moment of exceptional intensity for the Italian cultural presence in Beijing. Among the principal Italian exhibitions held in the Chinese capital are Geometry, harmony and life. The architecture of Andrea Palladio from Antiquity to Classicism, opened in February 2026 by the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli at the National Museum of China, together with the exhibition Pompeii. An eternal discovery; Homage to the Great Masters. From Leonardo da Vinci to Caravaggio. Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, opened in April 2026 by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC); as well as Chinese Voices on Palladio, opened on 10 July 2026 at the Tsinghua University Museum.
In this context, Memory and Future. Contemporary Italian Art represents a further development of an articulated programme of cultural cooperation between Italy and China, confirming the role of museum and cultural cooperation as a privileged instrument of cultural diplomacy between the two countries.
Technical data
Title
Memory and Future. Contemporary Italian Art
Exhibition venue
Beijing Guardian Art Center, Beijing
Opening: 20 July 2026, 4.30 pm
Open to the public: 21 July – 9 September 2026
Organisers
Beijing Guardian Art Center
Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS
Patronage
Fondazione Italia Cina
Coordination
Beijing Italy-China Cooperation Culture Development Co., Ltd.
Institutional support
Italian Embassy in the People's Republic of China
Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing
MU-PA – Museo del Parco di Portofino
Production
Kou Qin
Caterina Feng
Curatorial direction
Guicciardo Sassoli de' Bianchi Strozzi
Curatorial and scientific committee
Daniele Crippa
Manuela Valentini
Ren Jingge
Giorgia Cestaro
Coordination, Beijing Guardian Art Center
Ma Xuedong
Wang Tong
Zhang Dan
Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS
Guicciardo Sassoli de' Bianchi Strozzi, President
Giorgia Cestaro, Vice President
Manuela Valentini, Contemporary art division
Ren Jingge, Delegate and curator
Avv. Ginevra Cavina Boari, Legal Department
Davide Cascella, Graphics and Logistics
Matilda Cribiori, Editorial division
Bianca Garagnani, Media
Operations team
Beijing Guardian Art Center
Chen Shuyin, Hou Jinjin, Yang Juan, Guo Zhenxing, Xue Wei, Pu Yu, Dong Yue, Wang Zhuoran, Li Guangli, Zou Songxun, Li Qingfang, Li Peng, Lin Qianyu, Jing Song, Zhang Dongtao, Wang Sijia, Ma Xinyue, Wang Ying, Shui Zichen, Wei Yuqian, Xiao Yaxin
With the kind support of
Lavazza
Campari
Guardian Press
Mr. Jiang Yushan
Bossa Bossa Records
Transport
Butterfly Transport
Top Space International Trade Co., Ltd.
Insurance
Big Broker Insurance Group – Lloyd's
Exhibition graphic design
U.E. Design Studio
Exhibition set-up
Collection Exhibition Co., Ltd.
Acknowledgements
Fondazione Italia Cina
Mario Boselli, President
Federico Pasini, Chief Operating Officer
