UNIT TEN: Global Contemporary

Note Pages- FORM, FUNCTION, CONTENT, CONTEXT ENTRIES   

Below that, address how the work can be discussed in regard to form, function, content, and
context. Highlight at least two key words (“vocabulary” words) for each work. (Learning
Objective 1.1)   
 
Image #: 249    
Title:    Maxxi national museum of
XXI Century Arts
Date:      2009 CE
Artist:   Zaha Hadid
Media:    Glass,steel, and cement
Size:   27,000
Style:   Contemporary Architecture
    
FORM:    Internal spaces are covered by a glass roof, natural light is admitted to the
interior filtered by louvered blinds. Walls flow and melt into one another, creating new and
dynamic interior spaces. The composition of overlapping interesting bending oblong tubes
and it resembles a massive transport infrastructure. The walls are curved and have a
transparent roof. The light is all from natural light and is admired into the interior. Light
is filtered by Louvered blinds. The walls seem to flow and melt into one another. With the
dynamic interior spaces it’s the place to be. The black stairway is lit underneath with a
white light. The contrast between curving lines and strict linear geometry. Essentially it’s
one giant slab of concrete. Two museums, MAXXI Art and MAXXI Architecture, a
library, auditorium and cafeteria. With its soaring spaces and curving walk ways, it’s a
space well suited to serve as an exhibition space for 21st-century art.
  
 
FUNCTION:    The space is designed to handle any sort of installation or exhibition rule-
breaking postmodern artists might try to throw at it. As declared by the architect, the
museum is ‘not a object container, but rather a campus for art’, where flows and pathways
overlap and connect in order to create a dynamic and interactive space. It is for the herbal
public to provide an understanding and appreciation of contemporary artwork and
architecture. It’s dedicated to experimentation and innovation in arts and architecture. She
was also influenced by the Samarra mosque’s minaret. Like the Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao designed by FrankGehry, Hadid’s MAXXI is another example of a contemporary
building that makes architecture an art form.

 CONTENT:    Contemporary arts of the 21st century are displayed here. The first Italian
museum dedicated to the art of today. Of course MAXXI Art and MAXXI Architecture
regularly host exhibits, in addition to serving as spaces for artistic experimentation and
weekly work. This building is reminiscent of the international style, and the work of people
like Le Corbusier or Mies van der Rohe. There are also columns that refer to ancient
Greco Roman Tradition and to modernist structures like the Villa Savoye. The use of
concrete connects to it’s origins in Rome. She draws inspiration from modernism,
constructivism , Russian painters like Malevich, and early 20th century utopianism.   
 
CONTEXT:   Hadid began to be known as a “paper architect,” meaning her designs were
too avant-garde to move beyond the sketch phase and actually be built. This impression of
her was heightened when her beautifully rendered designs often in the form of exquisitely
detailed colored paintings were exhibited as works of art in major museums. Hadid further
explored her interest in creating interconnecting spaces and a dynamic sculptural form of
architecture. In 2010 Hadid’s boldly imaginative design for the MAXXI museum of
contem- porary art and architecture in Rome earned her the Royal Institute of British
Architects Stirling Prize for the best building by a British architect completed in the past
year.