CENTRO PECCI events

The Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art is organising the first forum in Italy dedicated to Italian contemporary art. This is a unique initiative, bringing together a select group of art professionals for a collective, soul-searching examination of numerous critical issues. 

Artists, critics, historians, curators, teachers in public and private academies, museum and foundation directors, art publishers and editors, gallery owners, collectors and art patrons will all gather in Prato on 25, 26 and 27 September for three days of debates, during which the Italian art system will be subjected to close scrutiny; concrete proposals for improving it and making it internationally competitive will be formulated.

The forum will offer an open platform for discussion, denunciation and in-depth analysis. It will consist of over 40 different round tables, each one comprising a coordinator and various participants, with a total of several hundred contributors. Each round table will try to propose feasible solutions based on a series of pre-established themes. The public will be free to move around at will, listening to the debates and also intervening in the discussions.

Crucial themes will be analysed in an attempt to provide an exhaustive overview of the “art system in Italy.” These include: the complex relations between the public and private spheres; the critical debate and media coverage; the formulation of shared strategies for promoting Italian art abroad; the creation of educational models for training artists, critics and curators; the role and statutes of public institutions; and the distinct roles of culture and politics.

The discussions will be led by experts from the various areas of the art system, with particular attention paid to the younger generation, the aim being to achieve an authoritative critical and proactive overview. The coordinators will guide the debates, stimulating discussion and producing a final report on the specific theme, which will be presented to the public at the end of the three days. These guidelines should help experts to develop useful tools for improving the system. 

Eschewing rhetoric and navel-gazing, the forum will aspire to be the starting-point of a process of collective intelligence which the Italian art system urgently needs, welcoming all those wishing to make a contribution. 

The program is enriched by fringe events and the participation of some special national and international guests. The main venue is the Teatro Metastasio, with other locations in the Prato town center. The theatre will host each coordinator’s  final report, interventions by guest speakers and representatives of national and international associations in the sector, and talks by the members of the organising committee, comprised of Ilaria Bonacossa, Anna Daneri, Cesare Pietroiusti, and Pierluigi Sacco, with Fabio Cavallucci, director of the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art.