La Spezia, allegations of conflict of interest to culture alderman. Him: books given to museum

The affair that led to the resignation of Paolo Asti, culture alderman of the municipality of La Spezia, led by a center-right junta, has something peculiar. Asti returned his delegation, which is currently being taken over by Mayor Pierluigi Peracchini, after being accused of conflict of interest by some opposition groups. The reason lies in the ties between Asti and the company Brain srl, a publishing house that in recent months has published two catalogs of as many exhibitions held at CAMeC, La Spezia’s main contemporary art museum: the exhibitions in question are the solo shows of Pietro Bellani and Andrea Bianconi (a review of the latter can be read in Finestre Sull’Arte). In recent days the opposition, considering Paolo Asti’s overlapping roles inappropriate since Brain was involved in organizing the two exhibitions, had called for his resignation: “we wonder,” councilors Federica Pecunia, Guido Melley, Massimo Lombardi, Paolo Manfredini, and Luigi Liguori had declared, “if there are deeds giving formal assignment to Asti’s company for the organization of the two exhibitions at Camec mentioned; if there are deeds proving the passages and destinations of money of the ’minor’ sponsorships. And we formally ask to make them public and consultable. The only serious thing Asti can do, besides clarifying to the city its position in these matters, is to resign. We ask Mayor Peracchini if he was aware of the situation, to comment on it and to revoke Asti’s delegations.”

Asti, for his part, explained that he has had no further ties with Brain srl since last June 18, the date on which he submitted his resignation (acknowledged in December) from the corporate position he held. In addition, the alderman made it known that Brain srl has never woven business relationships with the City of La Spezia or institutions connected to the City, nor with companies featured in exhibition catalogs as sponsors or supporters. In addition, Asti specified that Brain was never involved in organizing the exhibitions but, as a publishing house, simply published the catalogs of the Bellani and Bianconi reviews: Brain moreover gave one hundred catalogs of each of the two exhibitions as a gift to CAMeC: a gift, the alderman explained, “neither due nor requested, but one that created a considerable saving for the administration, which usually prints 500 (the minimum quota needed to optimize costs) per exhibition and then lets hundreds of them lie in warehouses.”

The opposition then accuses Asti of overlap also in relation to his ties with the Startè cultural association (which he founded and grew over the years), which deals with the promotion of contemporary art and which was also involved in the organization of the two exhibitions: but again, the alderman points out that he resigned on March 17, 2018, and that along with that act, the then steering committee also lapsed, then completely renewed in the following weeks.

In the meantime, the mayor has announced the formation of a committee that will have to shed light on the affair: until the committee has completed its work, the delegation to culture will be absorbed by the mayor himself, who has, however, already shown confidence in his alderman (to whom the delegations to tourism, toponymy, twinning, international cooperation, and promotion of the city remain). Meanwhile, the first citizen has already let it be known that “there is no municipal administrative act or contract that binds the municipal administration with the Brain company or the Startè cultural association.”

Pictured is a room of the CAMeC

La Spezia, allegations of conflict of interest to culture alderman. Him: books given to museum

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