MAXXI's Collection Strategy: A Living Process of Commissioning and Production

Hou Hanru, artistic director of the Fondazione MAXXI, outlines the museum's unique collection strategy. As Italy's first national museum dedicated to 21st-century contemporary art, MAXXI faces the challenge of soaring art market prices that make traditional acquisitions prohibitive. Instead, the museum focuses on commissioning and producing works, resulting in a collection that is a 'living process' tied to the institution's own history. This approach reflects a broader tension between expanding market economies and shrinking public investment. MAXXI aims to reinvent public institutions by creating a 'third space' where public and private sectors converge. The collection documents contemporary culture while redefining 'national art' in a globalized context. Hanru emphasizes the museum's role as a site of production, imagination, and memory revitalization. The collection is presented through rotating exhibitions and traveling shows in collaboration with international institutions, ensuring works gain new life. MAXXI, designed by Zaha Hadid, also hosts temporary exhibitions across art, architecture, design, fashion, film, and performance.