Rome’s MAXXI, or National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, will hold an exhibition on architect Álvaro Siza and his works from 9 November 2016 to 26 March 2017. The exhibition titled ‘Sacro’ will explore the Portuguese architect’s works and his relationship with religion.
Álvaro Siza and his acclaimed career
Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira was born at Portugal in 1933. His architectural style is commonly described as “poetic modernist” and has won many awards throughout his career. Some of the awards that he has picked up during his illustrious career include the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture (1988), the Praemium Imperiale (1988), the coveted Pritzker Prize (1992), Portugal’s National Prize of Architecture (1993) and the Wolf Prize in Arts (2001). Siza has won two Golden Lions at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002 and 2012. He is also a highly regarded figure in architecture education, with the title of Honoris Causa Doctor by over a dozen European universities and Honorary Fellow at some of the world’s most prestigious academies.
Siza’s constructions include the Boa Nova Tea House, the Faculty of Architecture and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. One of his most recent projects is the new visitors’ center for the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain – a collaboration with fellow architect Juan Domingo Santos.
‘Alvaro Siza, Sacro’ at the MAXXI
Curated in collaboration with the architect himself, “Sacro” examines Siza’s relationship with the sacred: whether in projects with an overtly religious nature or less direct constructions. Drawings, projects and objects from Siza’s vast wealth of work will be exhibited in the museum’s 2bis Gallery alongside photographs taken by a team of international photographers in an atmosphere intended to recreate the spiritual calm found in places of worship.
National Museum of the 21st Century Arts (The museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo)
Designed by the Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid and inaugurated in 2010 after 10 years of development, the MAXXI is located in Rome’s Flaminio district on the site of an old military compound. It received the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in its debut year, and has since exhibited works by modern international artists and architects such as Carlo Scarpa, Aldo Rossi, Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter and Kiki Smith.
The exhibition “Álvaro Siza, Sacro” will run from November, 9 2016 – March 26, 2017.
