Rome, Italy – An architectural complex of 27,000 square metres, 10,000 of which consist of exhibition spaces, 350 works of art, 75,000 architectural documents, including drawings, photographs and plans, and 150 million Euros invested over the course of 12 years. These are the figures of the MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and inaugurated last Thursday (27th) in Rome. Starting on this Sunday (30th), the space will open to the public. The museum is Zaha’s first project in Italy.
"The MAXXI was conceived to be a museum of encounters, alive, and not only between art and architecture, but for integration. Integration between music, dancing, performance art (etc),” said Zaha, during a press conference granted to approximately 600 Italian and foreign journalists at the museum’s premises. The architect also claimed that her passion for Rome goes back a long time. "Until this day, I keep a photo of when I was 10, taken in front of the Trevi Fountain. That was the first time that I visited Italy. Rome remained in my heart, and by means of this project I wanted to pay a tribute to the city," she said.
The history of MAXXI begins in the early 1990s, when the federal and local governments decided that Rome needed a national museum for contemporary art, just like the main European capitals: Paris, London and Berlin. In 1998, the site that would house the new space was chosen: the Flaminio neighbourhood. the Auditorium Parco della Musica, was built nearby in that same period, and is now the largest musical complex in the European continent, designed by Renzo Piano.
Old military area
The location that was chosen was full of small houses that served as lodging for Italian Army soldiers, and posed a challenge to the construction of the new museum. In the following year, a contest was held for selecting the project. Approximately 250 architects and firms from the world over submitted their proposals. The jury selected 15 semi-finalists, and then announced Zaha Hadid’s firm as the winner. According to Pio Baldi, the chairman of Fondazione MAXXI, the way in which Zaha integrated the building to the neighbourhood was what led the jury to choose her project. Zaha’s curvy designed was not aggressive towards the surroundings, but rather conversed with it.
Construction work began in 2003 and, according to Zaha, many were the obstacles to be overcome, ranging from the project’s shrinking and readapting, due to a budget cut, to changes in the officials in charge, due to municipal and federal elections. Large volumes of concrete and glass were used in the building, which favours natural lighting, creating obstacles to the artists, or ‘a challenge,’ as Zaha put it. When it came to the halls, however, Zaha was generous. MAXXI does not have only exhibition rooms; each space, including the museum’s outside walls may house exhibitions and artistic interventions.
The Boa
When compared to the city’s architecture, Zaha’s building is discrete. Although it was nicknamed the Boa by the Romans, those who look at it from the outside cannot imagine hugeness that they will find inside. It is a bona fide magic box that surprises visitors with its fluid spaces, which at times lead to ample, open environments, and at other times, to smaller, near-intimist ones. It is a museum in which to lose and find oneself. To meet with contemporary art. And, in many cases, to make peace with it, as when one enters the room of temporary exhibition ‘Mesopotamian Dramaturgies,’ featuring eight video works by Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman.
In his work, Ataman addresses cultural diversity and highly current issues, such as the problematic relation between East and West. In ‘English as a second language,’ for instance, the artist questions the imposition of English for the establishment of the so-called globalized world. In the installation, two Turkish boys face each other, with the visitor in the middle, as they read without pause an extremely difficult text by Shakespeare – which is difficult even to those who master the language. The two do not speak English, and have a real hard time pronouncing the words.
For the inauguration of the MAXXI, three other exhibitions are featured: one by Italian artist Gino De Dominicis, another one named ‘Spazio,’ which comprises works from the MAXXI‘s art and architecture collection, and ‘Dal razionalismo all’informale,’ by Luigi Moretti. The latter is part of the programme of MAXXI Architecture, another innovation by the museum, which operates in these two fields: art and architecture, with two boards of directors that are independent, but speak the same language.
Incomplete
In addition to its exhibition rooms, MAXXI has a bookstore, which sells the catalogues of its temporary exhibitions and of the museum’s permanent collection, a café and a library, which will only open to the public in the second half of the year. For the inauguration, a stage has been set up on the outside area for concerts and performances. The space is meant to be used often, joining music, art and architecture. The museum also develops specific didactical projects, initially targeted at the neighbourhood’s population, with the objective of bringing them closer to the MAXXI, and to contemporary art itself. Later on, they will include schools and specific groups, including people with disabilities.
Service:
MAXXI
Address: Via Guido Reni 4 A, Rome, Italy
Site: www.fondazionemaxxi.it
Ticket: 11 Euros (full), admittance is free for children under 14
Time: from Tuesdays until Sundays, from 11:00 am to 07:00 pm, on Thursday s until 10:00 pm. Closed on Mondays and on December 25th and May 1st
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
