Flight Paths transforms the story of Rome’s beloved (and much maligned) parakeets into an exploration of urban environments, planetary ecology, and the entangled histories connecting humans, birds, and cities across millennia.

Flight Paths reveals that these so-called “alien” or “invasive” species have a far more complex relationship with the Mediterranean world than contemporary labels suggest. Exotic birds circulated in antiquity as symbols of power, empire, and global trade, connecting Ancient Rome to Afro-Asian geographies. By tracing these entangled histories, the exhibition positions birds as vital indicators of urbanism, adaptation, and environmental change—demonstrating that the life of a city can literally be read from a bird’s-eye view.

Flight Paths bridges into the contemporary with a roster of international artists and architects including Quando & Calzadilla, Alvin Curran , Craig Douglas, Chioma Ebinama, Studio Gang, Heather Hart, Joan Jonas, Ana Mendieta, Cassi Namoda, Laura Owens, STIMSON, Anika Roach, Raqs Media Collective , Roberto Zhao Renhui, alongside a dynamic younger generation of Italian artists— Catherine Biocca, Michela De Mattei, Michele Gabriele, Sara Ravelli, and Giorgio Orbi.

Each use birds as powerful indicators of ecological and political disruption across diverse geographies spanning North America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia, engaging contested concepts of population, migration, and extinction.

Through painting, sculpture, sound, architecture, film, and archival materials, Flight Paths explores how human and non-human habitats transform under climate stress and resource scarcity. 

At a moment when urban environments worldwide face rapid transformation, Flight Paths positions Rome as both illuminating case study and vital crossroads—a place where history, ecology, and imagination take flight.

The opening is proceeded by a conversation Sharing Our World with Birds with scientist and microbiologist Andrea Crisanti, architect Jeanne Gang, and ornithologist Francesca Manzini from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.

The exhibition is curated by Ilaria Puri Purini, Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome.

Following the exhibition opening on Monday 30th March, 6 – 9pm,  the exhibition will be open to the public from 3rd April to  11th July, 2026.

opening times: Fridays and Saturdays, 4:00 – 7:00 pm.

(please note access to the academy requires guests to a present a valid photo ID and to not carry a backpack or luggage on their person – locker facilities are not available)

AAR Gallery
McKim, Mead & White Building
Via Angelo Masina, 5
Roma
Italia

Further Information