The MAXXIDUEPERCENTO Competition. An emblematic case of the relationship between public museum - architectural space - work of art

MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, is one of the most important works of public art created and inaugurated in the most recent years. The project, designed by the Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, was selected following an international competition held by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali It was assigned in 1998 and the work has been realized starting from 2000. To apply the so-called “2% Law” the Ministero delle Infrastrutture and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali promoted a competition which took place between 2008 and 2009. Among the 554 candidacies the jury selected five artists (Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kosuth, Maurizio Mochetti, Alfredo Pirri, SislejXhafa) for a work of art to be realized in the lobby and six artists (Piero Golia, Massimo Bartolini, Daniel Buren, Olaf Nicolai, Wilfredo Garcia Prieto, Massimo Grimaldi) for a work of art to be placed outside the museum. The winners were Maurizio Mochetti who realized for the hall Linee rette di luce nell’Iperspazio curvilineo, and Massimo Grimaldi who created Emergency’s Paediatric Centre in Port Sudan supported by MAXXI for the external area of the museum.