Zaha Hadid Opens An Art Museum In Rome With No Art

Where: Via Guido Reni 10, Rome, Italy

November 17, 2009 at 9:29 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Oh my gosh, would you believe that another building by Zaha Hadid got built? The Baghdad-born architect is famous for her futuristic designs, but most only stay looking good on paper. She has a few buildings scattered around the world, but the newest one in Rome takes the cake in terms of scale and space.

Dubbed the MAXXI Museum, or National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, it is a triumph for Zaha. Having opened only several days ago and described by the NYT as "less a unified lone structure than a convergence of long, shiny, serpentine modules � a bit like a space-age highway interchange," the Maxxi is already going down in architecture history. And since we've got a thing for good design, modern art and any new museum exhibitions, the Maxxi is fresh on our radar as well.

We have got to get back to Rome. It's almost shocking what a city so known for its ancient sites will do to guarantee its place in the future; the Maxxi cost $224 million dollars. When the museum opened this month, it was without any exhibits—the first visitors walked through blank space so as to appreciate the structure itself, the building as art before it is filled with smaller masterpieces. An art museum without art, and yet it attracted the crowds.

Although there's already a light installation in the museum, no future major special exhibitions have been announced. For now, they will stick to moving in the permanent (and very modern) collection, featuring mainly works of art and architecture from the 1960s through 2006, even though it's called the Museum of 21st Century Arts. Of course Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha and Anish Kapoor (designer of Chicago's Cloud Gate scupture, aka "The Bean") all make appearances throughout the work.

If you'd like to see for yourself, the you'll sadly be kept out until the pieces are installed in early 2010. But to check out the building itself, you can take the Metro A to Flaminio Station and then Tram 2 to the Apollodoro stop.

Related Stories:
· Maxxi Museum [Official Site]
· To The Maxxi: Zaha Hadid's Museum In Rome [The Moment, NYT]
· Maxxi Museum [NYT]
· Architecture Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: valentinaa]

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