Manovra 2019, a grillino amendment threatens to scuttle MAXXI and GNAM in Rome

The 2019 budget law continues to be amended even in the final stages of discussion. Grillini senators Patuanelli, Montevecchi, Accoto, Pirro, Turco, and Gallicchio have now introduced an amendment (1.5006/1) that seeks to reallocate resources from the Contemporary Art Plan (PAC) to promote Italian contemporary art abroad. This is the full text of the amendment: “In amendment 1.5006, after paragraph ”349-bis,“ finally add the following: ”349-ter. For the promotion of Italian contemporary art abroad, a portion of the resources referred to in Article 3, paragraph 1, of Law No. 29 of February 23, 2001, equal to €3 million for each of the years 2019 and 2020 and €1 million as of the year 2021, shall be allocated." Article 3 of Law Feb. 23, 2001 is the one that provides, precisely, for the establishment of the Contemporary Art Plan.

However, there are two problems with this amendment: first, it is not clear what the 5 Star Movement senators mean by "promotion of Italian contemporary art abroad." Secondly, this measure would divert resources that are currently allocated to two of the most important contemporary art museums in Italy, namely the National Museum of the Arts of the Twelfth Century (the MAXXI) in Rome, and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, which largely sustain themselves thanks to PAC funds.

Harsh criticism comes from Pd deputy Michele Anzaldi, who in an article in theHuffington Post writes that the “subamendment by the grillini senators redistributes the resources of the PAC, the Plan for Contemporary Art, taking 3 of the 4 million the fund amounts to. This means, in effect, emptying the funds (the two museums will only be able to count on 500 thousand euros per year) that keep the Maxxi and Gnam alive. These are the two most important museums in the capital in the field of contemporary and modern art. And in the case of the Maxxi, the importance of the works is compounded by the attraction exerted by the ’container,’ designed by the late archistar Zaha Hadid. These two poles were supposed to fill the delays accumulated by Rome, whose cultural offerings often tend to focus only on the past, as opposed to the present of contemporary art.” And he points out that the government has decided “to scuttle one of the potential economic pillars of the Rome of the future, the one in which culture, tourism and food and wine occupy the place that in the past belonged to the industrial system” for an elusive promotion of contemporary art abroad that “we would not like to hide the intention of pharaonic prize-trips abroad for some friendly executive.” And it all takes place, Anzaldi points out, without any word from Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi.

Pictured: the GNAM in Rome. Ph. Credit Windows on Art

Manovra 2019, a grillino amendment threatens to scuttle MAXXI and GNAM in Rome

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