ROME.- Among 554 applications, submitted in 120 days, the Jury of the international competition MAXXI 2per100 has selected 11 artists – 5 for the indoor hall and 6 for the outdoor one – which are now going to attend the second stage: the submission, within September, of a scale model (materials to be chosen by the artists) for the realisation of two works of art for the MAXXI, the new National Museum of 21st-Century Art, designed by Zaha Hadid for a lot in Via Guido Reni in Rome, which will be inaugurated in spring 2010.

The 5 artists selected for the indoor work are: Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kosuth, Maurizio Mochetti, Alfredo Pirri, Sislej Xhafa.

The 6 artists selected for the outdoor work are: Piero Golia, Massimo Bartolini, Daniel Buren, Olaf Nicolai, Wilfredo Garcia-Prieto, Massimiliano Grimaldi.

The Jury - whose members are Francesco Prosperetti, director general of PARC; Annamaria Tatò of the interregional authority for public works in Lazio, Abruzzo, and Sardinia; Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, superintendent of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; Margherita Guccione, director of PARC – Architecture (substitute juror for Zaha Hadid), Mario Codognato, head curator at MADRE, Naples and the artists Alfredo Jaar and Giuseppe Penone – has convened from March 5 to 7 for a three-day session of intense discussions and hard work.

The 554 applications have been analised following the criteria proposed in the Competition Announcement: national and international recognisability through the presence in exhibitions and/or specialist publications, evaluation of the approach to the theme of the competition, and artistic and theoretical elements of works realised.

Of the two works, the one that brought out the highest levels of creativity in the artists was the one for the outdoor area, and indeed it attracted 264 submissions. 149 artists preferred to work on the indoor hall. Many of the applications, however, were for both areas: a total of 141. The Jury has selected the finalists through majority decisions and none of the candidates has been appointed by a unanimous decision.

A year before the museum opening, the competition for MAXXI caused an international stir, clearly confirming the leading role that the new museum is aiming to acquire not only in Italy but around the world. Of the 554 applications received, 370 came from Italian nationals while no fewer than 184, almost exactly half as many, came from foreign artists from 5 continents and from 47 different countries.

MAXXI, the first national Italian museum devoted to the contemporary world, has set aside a total sum of 1,130,000.00 Eurofor the creation of the two works of art: 430,000.00 Euro for the indoor work, and 700,000.00 Euro for the outdoor one.

The competition is governed by Italian Law no. 717 of 1949, known as the 2% law, which establishes that the State Administration and all public authorities that order the construction of public buildings shall devote to works of art no less than 2% of the total expenditure foreseen for the project.

The two winning projects will be announced within 2009.