MAXXI, Italy’s first national museum dedicated to contemporary creativity, opened its doors in May 2010. It is administered by a private foundation established by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and headed by Giovanna Melandri.
Since December 2013 Hou Hanru has been the Artistic Director of the museum, which includes MAXXI Architettura, directed by Margherita Guccione, and MAXXI Arte, directed by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi. Conceived as a vast cultural campus, MAXXI was designed by architect and winner of an international tender Zaha Hadid. It produces and hosts exhibitions of art, architecture, design and photography, as well as fashion, cinema and musical projects, theater and dance performances, lectures and seminars with artists, architects and other prominent contemporary figures. More than just a museum, MAXXI is a platform where all creative languages mesh, and a place for encounter, exchange and collaboration that is open to everyone, a laboratory of the future.