In the period from 2017 to 2024, Italian Council supported numerous projects and initiatives, contributing to the production of new works by Italian artists, the expansion of public collections, and international participation. The resources allocated have increased, indicating a growing commitment on the part of the Ministry of Culture, and the distribution of funds among different sectors (international commissioning, promotion of artists, support for curators and acquisitions) reflecting an articulated and uniform vision. In other words, also thanks to the Italian Council, the contemporary art supply chain emerges and not just individual actors. The fact remains that the system has a vocation that tends toward foreignness, partly for reasons related to saleability and the market. And this is not only because many galleries choose foreign artists.
Careful observation makes it clear that the Italian artists capable of positioning themselves are those followed by foreign galleries or those with offices abroad. This is why public intervention along with private intervention in the production and enhancement of contemporary art is effective: the issue of risk appetite is the prerogative of private individuals, but public investment in this sector is essential if we want to consider it strategic for the country. Other sectors have been supported in various ways for decades: fromautomotive to construction. Culture and artistic production cannot be relegated to the mere hobbyist sphere and thus the object of marginal boosters. An important assessment of the work of the Italian Council since the year of its establishment is given to us by the Report How well is Italian contemporary art (re)known abroad? on which I worked as co-author. Twenty-four nterviews with Italian contemporary art curators report for many of them an assessment of the Italian Council’s instrument. Among the concrete results noted by the interviews: helping to validate the institutional credibility of the partners involved in presenting themselves to international institutions by facilitating the feasibility of projects, their presentation and valorization; the Italian Council bridged the gap with foreign instruments by fostering mutual knowledge and cultural exchange; it has stimulated and consolidated the fiduciary relationship that the proposing institution establishes with the artist in the project and future prospects; it represents a tool to document and promote the project work of Italian artists not only abroad but also in Italy.
The most visible impacts of the Italian Council are: the growth of permanent collections of contemporary art in Italy and abroad; support for the participation of Italian artists in international events and residencies, which fosters the visibility of Italian art in the global context; funding of curatorial and editorial projects, which broaden critical reflection and knowledge of Italian art practices; the high number of winners per edition (up to more than 50) could raise the doubt that resources are not always incisively allocated. While widespread support may broaden the base of artists and projects supported, it could dilute the impact of each intervention, making the program less targeted and focused.
Research that measures the pre-Italian Council with the current situation would be interesting, which is not easy because there is a lack of data that is critical for measuring impacts and guiding policy. Capillarity I think makes sense in Italy if we think that, unlike other European and international realities, there is along the Boot the presence of galleries, independent centers and public commissions that have stimulated a local collecting and production that has strong identitarian relationships with places, going to build a bond of meaning and a fiduciary relationship between actors and stakeholders.
What should not be capillary is the overall lobbying and strategy, through the involvement of Italian cultural institutes abroad, for example, with the revision of the tax rule, and a more targeted pervasiveness in the communication platforms of the international system.
Compared to similar initiatives such as the British Council, the Mondriaan Fund or Pro Helvetia, Italian Council certainly has an important distinguishing feature: its focus on the production and dissemination of contemporary Italian art. Being more recent and less structured than other programs that have a long tradition of intervention, it has room for development and rooting in the international scene. Like any instrument, it has had its start-up phase and is in the steady-state phase within which to analyze data and impacts for repositioning in a trajectory of continuity.
As for the critical aspects, a first criticality is of a financial nature due to advances that not all realities can afford and with a banking system that is still unfamiliar with the cultural sector as an investing enterprise and therefore to be financed.
The enhancement of the supply chain is one of the strengths with room for improvement and growth regarding the real and authentic capacity for this supply chain to be not a series of individualities but a professional community capable of lobbying, fighting the misperception of the equivalence between art and hobbies, to the point of constituting a real movement. If we think about it, it is since the days of Arte Povera that we have not detected a solid group, with such a density of positioning and communication to represent Italy abroad. The Italians who stand out in the international market are fewer than ten, they do not together represent a movement but the thing that unites them is their experience abroad. A long-term political vision (strengthening the effects and impacts of the instrument since its introduction in 2017), equipped with a strategy and a national and international network, are essential elements for the instrument to consolidate its effectiveness.
On the quality of projects, meanwhile, it would be important to define the concept of quality. Subject to a level of discretion, on the one hand, and also, at the same time, the need to identify indicators to make the project measurable, I believe that there is a diverse quality present. I think it is important that the concept of quality is related not only to the project but also to the process and impacts (ad intra and ad extra).
Finally, the Italian Council tool can be improved through: a system of monitoring and follow-up on the funded projects, to understand how they evolve over time and whether the benefits were really sustainable; the creation of mentoring opportunities for young artists and curators who receive funding could contribute to a strengthening of professional skills and greater long-term impact; and greater interaction and synergy between artists and foreign institutions that can accompany Italian artists, not only during the production of the works, but also afterwards, with their insertion in international contexts.
For all intents and purposes, the Italian Council can also be a booster for the Quadrennial, which has among its aims, also that of promoting the dissemination and knowledge abroad of Italian artistic culture, by activating a control room for the promotion of Italian art abroad. If this need (the control room) is recognized, we need to think about how to activate it and provide it with the means.
This contribution was originally published in No. 25 of our print magazine Finestre Sull’Arte on Paper, erroneously in shortened form. Click here to subscribe.
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