The question about the marginality and relevance of Italian art today in relation to the international context is part of a long-standing debate whose parameters are partly outdated. In the globalized context in which Italy participates, one should always talk about art systems and art histories and avoid perpetuating an approach based on parameters that are now outdated. Given this consideration, it is important to look at what kind of opportunities can be opened up for young and mid-career artists. In terms of training, programs and access to the academies should be reviewed so as to strengthen teaching support for women artists, both Italian and non-Italian, who are included within national and international exhibition circuits. In addition, training should aim to equip women artists with tools through which to present their work: preparing for the preparation of portfolios, writing texts for calls for proposals or applications for funding. The artist’s work does not end with the creation of the work in the studio. A solid system of postgraduate training would be essential to create conditions for meeting with national or international mentors who can further nurture and give visibility to the research of younger people. From the institutional point of view, there can be a greater involvement of Italian museum realities in supporting artists and women artists in their journey, through supporting the production of exhibitions and works in significant spaces, including the galleries they work with or the non-for-profit spaces or artists run spaces with which they might be in relationship.
From this point of view, I think of the tradition of the Pecci Center that began in 1992 with the group exhibition “An Emerging Scene” and then continued over the years up to the solo exhibitions dedicated to Massimo Bartolini, Diego Marcon, Margherita Manzelli, Davide Stucchi or the group exhibition "Colorescenze. Artists, Tuscany, Future.’ Madre, Castello di Rivoli, Museion, Mambo, Gamec - to name just a few of the most active public institutions in this regard - are also engaged in diversified strategies in the promotion of Italian art. We are witnessing a new generation emerging and soon to enter museum halls, and this can only be an excellent element for further expansion of Italian art into other national spheres.
Private foundations, many united in the Committee of Foundations for Contemporary Art chaired by Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo-for more than 30 years personally at the forefront of supporting Italian art with various exhibitions and projects (such as YCRP)-, are vectors for the promotion in Italy and abroad of art, as well as ministerial calls dedicated to contemporary art or the BelPaese project that was born from the convergence of MIC and Comitato Fondazioni arte contemporanea. If the path to the visibility of more women artists abroad is still a long one, we are, however, on the right track with several personalities who have managed to find their voice in an increasingly enlarged global field, which has multiplied its escape lines, but also its possible genealogies (the expansion, in short, does not only concern young artists, but also the recovery of forgotten personalities of the 20th century). It is also important to promote new opportunities for confrontation between universities and institutions.
Involving critics and critics in events or commissioning texts makes it possible to reactivate the research and exhibition circuit according to a well-established Italian tradition of fruitful relations between museums and universities. A new impulse given to the Italian Cultural Institutes to focus more on their support of contemporary Italian art would also be desirable. What answers an artist manages to give to the present and how he or she predisposes thought about the future remains the key question that the national and international system is asking. On this point it will really be necessary to measure Italian art of the present and the future, rather than on its relation to our country’s past and history.
This contribution was originally published in No. 29 of our print magazine Finestre sull’Arte on paper, erroneously in an abridged form. Click here to subscribe.
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