Massimo Scaringella is an independent curator of contemporary art and organizer of cultural events. Over more than thirty years of activity in Italy and abroad, he has presented numerous Italian and international artists, many of whom belong to the new generations but are already appreciated on today’s international scene.

Born in Rome in 1953, he lives between Rome and Buenos Aires. He has curated or collaborated on more than 250 contemporary art exhibitions in 40 countries, working in direct contact with the local realities of different cultures and their contemporary landscapes, creating a bridge of exchange between Italian art and the rest of the world—particularly Latin America, where he served as Artistic Director of the 4th edition of the Biennale del Fin del Mondo (2014/2015). From 2017 to 2019 he was invited to the International Biennial of Curitiba, and in 2017 and 2019 he was appointed curator of the National Pavilion of Ivory Coast at the 57th and 58th Venice Biennale, an event in which he also participated with other projects in the 59th and 60th editions, in 2022 and 2024.

He began in 1977 alongside Italo Mussa, working with the Roman avant-gardes—especially at the Pastificio Cerere—and from 1990 he dedicated himself to promoting Italian art abroad, curating numerous traveling solo and group exhibitions and collaborating with public and private spaces, particularly in Rome. From 2000 he worked in the “Contemporary Art” sector of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contributing to the creation of the renowned “20th Century Collection at the Farnesina.”

He has presented contemporary art exhibitions in Italy; Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, USA; France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, UK, Sweden, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, Portugal; China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Turkey, the Persian Gulf; Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia, Libya, Kenya, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe; Australia and New Zealand. He has also written numerous critical essays and articles for specialized press (Il Tempo dell’Arte, Artribune).

Since 2003 he has developed an intense exchange with Argentina, collaborating with its main public and private institutions—such as the Museo de Arte Moderno MAMBA, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo MACBA, the Centro Cultural Borges CCB, the Centro Cultural CCK, the Usina del Arte, the Pontifical Catholic University UCA, the Museum of Fine Arts of San Juan, the MMAMM in Mendoza, the CCCH in Córdoba, the MACLA in La Plata and the CEC in Rosario—and founding ars maxjer contemporanea – avant-garde cultural projects, of which he is Director. He has also collaborated in Chile with the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo MAC and the Centro Cultural Las Condes, and in Peru with the MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo and ICNPA.

Among his exhibitions of the past years are: La punta del iceberg – Francis Bacon’s Drawings (Argentina, Chile, Portugal and Taiwan 2010–2011), The Garden of Wonders – Graphic Works by Joan Miró (Argentina – touring 2013), Words, Images and Other Texts – Homage to Visual Poetry and 50 Years of Fluxus (Argentina 2012) and solo exhibitions of Shay Frisch (Chile 2016, Peru 2017).

Notable group exhibitions that have brought Italian contemporary art to the world include: The Project of Essence (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Serbia, Romania 1997–1998); Forms of Thought (Indonesia, Sweden 2002); Italian Art 1950–70 – The Farnesina Collection (India, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Bosnia, Serbia 2008); The Energy of Matter (China 2008); Italian Kinetic Art 1950–70 (Argentina, Chile, Peru and Brazil 2013–2016); The Sign of Color: Burri and Afro (Peru 2016); and the residency program Officina Italiana (Argentina 2018).

He has also carried out intensive promotion in Italy of emerging Argentine creativity through initiatives such as the group exhibitions Focus Buenos Aires (MIART, Milan 2008), Art Abroad (Turin 2012), Global Exchange (MACRO, Rome 2014), the collective Mondongo (MAXXI, Rome 2016), and artists Jorge Miño (Milan 2018, Messina 2019) and Eugenio Zanetti (Rome 2018, Noto 2019), as well as through the Lucio Fontana Prize (2012/2016) of the Consulate General of Italy in Buenos Aires.

Invited curator at the International Biennial of Curitiba from 2017 to 2019, in 2020 he was appointed Artistic Director of Kou Gallery in Rome and Coordinator of Rome Art Week, and was also entrusted with the artistic direction of a new edition of E-zine Contemporary Art Magazine, Italy’s first online art periodical. In 2017 and 2019 he was appointed curator of the National Pavilion of Ivory Coast at the 57th and 58th Venice Biennale, and in the 59th Venice Biennale (2022) he co-curated with Alessandro Romanini. In 2023 he began with the curatorship of the first complete retrospective of Peruvian artist Joaquín Roca Rey at ICPNA Miraflores (Lima).

In 2024, among other exhibitions in Italy and Africa, he served as Project Manager at the 60th Venice Biennale for the following projects: National Pavilion of Cameroon – Palazzo Donà dalle Rose; The Endless Spiral: Betsabeé Romero, promoted by the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) of Los Angeles – Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa; Solmi – Ship of Fools, promoted by the Phillips Collection of Washington (USA) – Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, Venice.