Margherita Guccione appointed director of Italy's DGCC

Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini has appointed architect Margherita Guccione as director of the Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea (DGCC), the branch of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (Mibact) responsible for promoting contemporary art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and urban regeneration. Guccione, who has led the MAXXI architecture department for ten years, previously directed the architectural department of the DARC from 2002 to 2010 and oversaw the realization of the MAXXI museum designed by Zaha Hadid. The DGCC oversees key initiatives such as the Italian Council, the New York Prize, and the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. During the lockdown, the DGCC launched the Refocus photography call, initially criticized for lacking a budget, but later amended to include a €2,000 prize for each of twenty selected authors and an extended deadline to June 10, 2020. Guccione stated that urban regeneration and contemporary creativity will be key to the 'new normal' and that the DGCC is structured into five services: cultural and creative enterprises (fashion and design), contemporary art, contemporary architecture, suburbs and urban regeneration, and photography. She also noted that the curator for the Italian Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale has yet to be appointed and will be decided in the coming months.