Tosatti gives up one of his two appointments. AWI launches petition on dual appointment

The association AWI - Art Workers Italia, the association founded in 2020, during the Covid pandemic, to give voice to workers in contemporary art, has sent to several representatives of institutions (Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, Director General Creatività Contemporary Onofrio Cutaia, the president of the Quadriennale Umberto Croppi, and the president of the Lazio Region Nicola Zingaretti) an open letter in response to the call for action received by the association from numerous professionals in the sector. The text expresses opposition to the double appointment of Gian Maria Tosatti, who on the one hand will be the only artist to represent Italy at the next Venice Biennale and on the other will hold the position of Artistic Director of La Quadriennale di Roma (on the subject our newspaper hosted an intervention by Renato Barilli).

The letter aims to highlight what AWI believes are the heavy criticalities of assigning both mandates to the same person, sees among the signatories important personalities of Italian art and was later published as a petition on change.org, where it has already reached hundreds of adhesions. The action comes as the latest example of Art Workers Italy’s efforts to reform the sector and make it more inclusive and equitable, after a year of initiatives that saw AWI become the driving force behind several initiatives. In recent months, in particular, AWI has dialogued with the 7th and 11th committees in the Senate to include the figure of the visual artist in the first decree-law on the social status of the artist presented in Italy, collaborated with ACTA in the network to carry out the first sector survey dedicated to the field of contemporary art in Italy, has confronted several institutions such as AMACI - Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, to define shared ethical guidelines and to improve working practices in the sector, took to the streets in mobilizations alongside other precarious workers in the Italian cultural sector.

The text premises that the letter “is not intended to be an ad personam attack,” but wants to “denounce the unfairness of a systemic practice, in which there is a serious absence of regulation that protects selection calls from possible conflicts of interest.” According to the petitioners, the “news of the appointment of a single figure to play a leading role in two of the largest publicly-owned institutions that produce and promote contemporary art in Italy has caused general alarm and concern in the sector.” The dual appointment, AWI relates, “entails a centralization of power, material and symbolic. This generates an unacceptable disproportion between the public resources (and the induced income) entrusted to a single figure and those allocated to the entire contemporary art sector. Moreover, the double appointment does not operate in respect of the plurality of voices and visions that distinguish Italian contemporary art, failing to consistently represent the sector in two of the greatest opportunities for work and visibility at the national and international level. Finally, the awarding of both mandates to a single person, white and male, highlights the institutions’ perpetuation of an ethically unacceptable system of privilege.”

According to AWI, however, it is not only Tosatti’s appointment that is critical: the association also notes problems in the selection process, for example, the small number of members and the almost exclusively internal composition of the committees, “lacking invited members and guarantors of external judgment on the competencies of theÉ™ candidatÉ™”, and then again a reduction, in the case of the Quadriennale, of the prerequisites required of the candidates of the 2021 call compared to the 2017 call, and “the lack of transparency of the rankings, both for La Quadriennale di Roma and for the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale, as well as the non-consensual publication of only the names of the finalistÉ™ of the call for La Quadriennale di Roma.”

AWI therefore makes some precise requests: “with regard to the La Quadriennale di Roma call for proposals, the publication by the jury of the reasons for the validity of the selected project and profile, in accordance with the prerequisites required by the public notice; the publication, subject to the consent of the altrÉ™ candidatÉ™, of the final ranking list for La Quadriennale di Roma; the publication, subject to the consent of theÉ™ altrÉ™ candidatÉ™ and theÉ™ curatorÉ™ involved, of the final ranking list and projects submitted for the Italian Pavilion; and the renouncement by the winner of one of the two assignments.”

Finally, at the structural level, AWI calls for “the revision of La Quadriennale di Roma’s public notice and selection modalities; the revision of the invitation and selection modalities for the Italian Pavilion; the definition of a regulation that regulates the possibility of holding multiple positions based on the role, responsibility and incidence of the event/institution, especially in institutions with predominantly or totally public participation; the adoption in public notices of a strict practice of transparency with respect to the modalities of selection and communication dellÉ™ vincitorÉ™, as well as of the composition of the judging commissions.”

Tosatti gives up one of his two appointments. AWI launches petition on dual appointment

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.