Adrian Tranquilli at Palazzo Braschi (free for residents)

Adrian Tranquilli’s “It’s Happening Again” is on view through May 24, 2026 at the Museo di Roma in Palazzo Braschi, in the ground-floor rooms of the central Rome museum. The show brings together three new installations by the Melbourne-born, Rome-raised artist and is framed around the figure of the Joker, according to the Museo di Roma and Rome city listings. Entry is listed as free on the museum’s exhibition page, and inItaly says Rome residents can enter free with valid identification. ### What is actually in the show? The exhibition consists of three installations: “My Little White Book” (2026), “Endsong” (2025) and “In Excelsis 6” (2024), according to the Museo di Roma and the Rome city event page. Museum materials say the works draw out recurring themes from Tranquilli’s three-decade practice, which ranges across art, music, literature and cultural and social anthropology. (museodiroma.it) The Joker is the central figure in this chapter of Tranquilli’s work, the museum says. Rome’s event listing describes the artist’s broader interest in the hero and antihero, using imagery that is widely recognizable in popular culture. ### Why does the Joker matter here? The Museo di Roma says Tranquilli uses the Joker as “the antihero par excellence” in this project. (museodiroma.it) In “My Little White Book,” described as a large wall-mounted book that appears to burst from within, and in the totemic sculpture “Endsong,” the artist uses materials such as playing cards to suggest precariousness while rebuilding forms associated with monumentality and timelessness. (comune.roma.it) Rome’s official event page says Tranquilli’s recurring “houses of cards” operate as a metaphor for crisis and instability in structures of power and history. The same page links that motif to his 2009 work “All is Violent, All is Bright,” described as an enlarged model of St. Peter’s made from more than 50,000 playing cards bearing many Joker images. (museodiroma.it) ### What kind of references does the exhibition use? The Museo di Roma says the show contains echoes of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” specifically the monolith, and of David Lynch. The museum also says musical language, a recurring element in Tranquilli’s practice, is central to the exhibition. “In Excelsis 6” completes the route through the show, according to the museum press material. (comune.roma.it) The museum says that installation uses symbolism and visionary imagery to examine identity, reality, knowledge and the state of contemporary culture, and that the exhibition is accompanied by a critical text by Benedetta Casini. (museodiroma.it) ### Who organized it and where is it? Rome Capitale says the exhibition is promoted by Roma Capitale’s culture department and the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, and organized by Studio Stefania Miscetti with museum services by Zètema Progetto Cultura. The venue is the Museo di Roma at Palazzo Braschi, with the address listed as Piazza San Pantaleo 10 / Piazza Navona 2, Rome. (museodiroma.it) Artribune identifies Tranquilli as born in Melbourne in 1966 and raised in Rome. That biographical detail helps place the exhibition as a home-city museum presentation for an artist long associated with Roman contemporary art circles. ### When can people still go, and what does it cost? The Museo di Roma lists opening hours from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with last admission one hour before closing. (comune.roma.it) The museum says it is closed on Mondays and was also closed on May 1. May 24, 2026 is the final day listed for the exhibition on the museum and municipal pages. (artribune.com) The museum page lists admission as free, while inItaly’s guide says free entry for residents of the city of Rome and the Metropolitan Area requires a valid ID, so visitors should check the museum notice page or the inItaly listing before going. (museodiroma.it)