With its complexity of language, content, and interdisciplinary nature, contemporary art is a bridge to the future. I believe that the main issue is training the public, i.e., teaching the public that contemporary art plays a pivotal role in understanding our world.
How was cooperation with AMACI established and what prospects can this network open up?
We have been among the first ones to support this project. In 2001, two years before the creation of the Association, we organized a meeting called “Offside” in our center. The meeting was attended by museum directors and art critics for the purpose of discussing the status of contemporary art. From there the idea came of linking the institutions representing contemporary art in Italy, a genre which still draws little attention from visitors. AMACI enables network institutions to compare their various problems and experiences: as if it were a real lobby, in the best sense of the word. The goal is to be a system and to interact with their referents: from administrators to sponsors, and the art world in general.
The creation of an ambitious project such as a museum causes several obstacles, especially in social situations such as ours. What were and what are the main difficulties which you had to face?
The Pecci museum is over 20 years old. Built ex novo and entirely devoted to contemporary art, this museum reflects the enterprising and dynamic character of an industrial city that is focused on research and innovation both in the economic and cultural fields. A bet won, despite some critical moments that were overcome also thanks to the success of a number of projects created by the various art managers who succeeded each other. I believe that the main issue is training the public, i.e., teaching the public that contemporary art plays a pivotal role in understanding our world. A value added for a city which can then interpret its own time.
What projects do you have in store?
Store is the right word! The construction work for the enlargement of the museum is scheduled to begin in September. This will allow a wide presentation of our permanent collections in addition to temporary exhibits, thereby facilitating the subdivision of internal space and the alternation of the exhibition projects. The role of regional contemporary art museum will be strengthened and the standards of excellence and uniqueness in the national and international art world reconfirmed by organizing a permanent exhibition of the collection and updating the services at the end of the construction work which was started in 2009 and is expected to go on until 2011 without having to interrupt any of the exhibition activities. We have already scheduled an exhibit on Brazilian contemporary art for October.
The Terna Prize 02 intends to match company’s best practices with the cultural ones, thereby favouring a reflection on the need to look at the future of the planet paying attention to the environment and the energy in a responsible manner. In your opinion is it an attainable goal and is art nowadays still able to favor a greater critical awareness?
Initiatives such as the Terna Prize 02 in support of contemporary art are more than welcome. With regard to art meant as a critical awareness of our present time, I believe that the simultaneous understanding, in its own complexity, of languages, content, and interdisciplinary nature, is a real opportunity for us to interpret the future. Art has always been a glance into tomorrow and as Castellani says “today’s artist is the man of tomorrow”.
… an example?
In 2010, the Pecci Center will be at the Expo in Shanghai. On that occasion, our artists will be able to propose new prospective visions regarding the issue of living, thereby taking away the concept itself of “house” from those who normally operate in this sector, i.e., the architects.
The Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art in Prato
It is the first Italian museum with a center that was built ex novo to present, gather, display and promote the developments of the most advanced artistic research. The Center operates at the international level with a large planning of temporary exhibits, didactic and cultural mediation activities, displaying and informing on contemporary art, shows and multimedia events. It also presents an important permanent collection, composed of works by the main contemporary artists, as a sign of the exhibition and research activities of the Center. The magnitude of the collection and the lack of its own exhibition space inside the current building which was planned by Italo Gamberini, a leading member of the Tuscan Rationalist movement, have led the Board of Directors of the Center to promote the expansion of the existing building and the Pecci family to entrust the project to Architect Maurice Nio, one of the most interesting figures in the international innovative architectural scene. The role of regional contemporary art museum will be strengthened and the standards of excellence and uniqueness in the national and international art world reconfirmed by organizing a permanent exhibition of the collection and updating its services at the end of the construction work which was started in 2009 and is expected to go on until 2011 without having to interrupt any of the exhibition activities.
2009-10-07
