The museum will open to the public on Sunday 30 May

27, 28 and 29 May 2010: three days of events to celebrate the opening of MAXXI - National Museum of XXI Century Arts designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The museum will open to the public on Sunday 30 May, crowning the long-standing commitment by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage & Activities and the Ministry of Infrastructure.Following the architectural preview last November, MAXXI is delighted to announce a rich and international program. The inaugural exhibitions are: Gino De Dominicis: l’Immortale, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva (30 May – 7 November 2010); Luigi Moretti architetto. From Rationalism to Informalism, curated by Bruno Reichlin and Maristella Casciato (30 May – 7 November 2010); Kutlag Ataman. Mesopotamian Dramaturgies, curated by Cristiana Perrella (30 May – 12 September 2010).
However, it is the exhibition Space that contemplates the spirit of the museum - and will be the first exhibition of MAXXI’s Art and Architecture collections(30 May 2010 – 23 January 2011). Curated by an interdisciplinary group composed of Pippo Ciorra, Alessandro D’Onofrio, Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and Gabi Scardi.
The idea for Space was prompted by the dense texture of superimposed spaces of Hadid’s architecture and fully interprets MAXXI’s interdisciplinary nature. Around 90 works from the Art collection (including works by Alighiero Boetti, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Sol Lewitt, Giuseppe Penone, Grazia Toderi and Francesco Vezzoli) will be exhibited along a route winding inside and outside the museum, creating a dialogue with site specific installations by 10 international architecture studios (including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Lacaton & Vassal Architects and West 8). Visitors will be guided through an exploration of the vast and complex concept of space, understood in the environmental and the intimate senses, as a place of the imagination and as a political and social dimension. As part of the exhibition, a work by Studio Azzurro, Italian Geographies, will occupy a 40-metre wall: an interactive account of the last 60 years of Italian architecture, composed of film clips, interviews, photographs and drawings, freely reinterpreted and assembled in spectacular fashion. This work and the installations will enhance the MAXXI Architecture collection.
An ad hoc section will be devoted to the NETinSPACE project curated by Elena Giulia Rossi: a journey exploring the cross contamination between virtual and physical worlds through works by Miltos Manetas, Bianco-Valente, Stephen Vitiello and others.
Space will also include a tribute to Fabio Mauri and the two works created by Maurizio Mochetti and Massimo Grimaldi for MAXXI 2per100 competition: Straight Lines of Light in Curvilinear Hyperspace, in the museum atrium, is an installation of light and sculptural elements by Maurizio Mochetti, defined by the artist as a “spatial barometer”. The exterior will feature Massimo Grimaldi’s video Emergency’s Paediatric Centre in Port Sudan Supported by MAXXI documenting the phases in the construction of Emergency’s new hospital in Sudan, financed with the 2per100 funds which the artist has devolved to the project.

MAXXI – National Museum of XXI Century Arts
via Guido Reni, 4 A - 00196 Rome, Italy

www.fondazionemaxxi.it