Alternative museum in Rome. Industrial architecture heritage colonized by XXI century’s art

Industrial heritage is one of the suggestive architectural stratifications existing in the urban fabric of Rome, which in recent decades has also been the object of significant redevelopment projects. Exhibition use is one of the functions characterizing these spaces, many of which still present in the memory of the population. It is possible to observe, however, a double type of musealization: the one that concerns the architecture itself restored or left in ruins, and the one that uses the spaces as exhibition places, especially for the exposition of contemporary art often requiring spaces that can receive new and evolving forms of expression. The phenomena mentioned above can be better understood through the study of both the birth of these spaces and the social and economic dynamics generated by them in the context. As in other European cities, Rome has two types of scenarios concerning the use of industrial heritage. On the one hand, official exhibition spaces financed by institutions, such as the MACRO and the Mattatoio, and, on the other, “alternative” spaces where both the community and contemporary art can express themselves by redeeming abandoned buildings, considered as reference points in central or suburban areas, such as the MAAM and the MAGR. The analysis of these exemplary cases makes it possible to explore both the architectural intervention and the different approaches currently used in the capital to host contemporary art.