The crisis does not spare the Italian art market “heavily penalized by excessive taxation and lack of awareness of politics. Contemporary art in Italy should be considered an asset to be valued and not to be hit, as happens instead, also for territorial marketing reasons”.
Thus Silvia Evangelisti, artistic director of Arte Fiera, the most important market exhibition in the country, a few weeks before the 2012 edition, scheduled in Bologna from 27 to 30 January. The judgment appears in line with the latest Nomisma report on art: turnover in Italy is approximately 1,4 billion euros, but its weight in the international arena halved in 2010, going from 2 % to 1%, while the estimates, at the end of 2011, are gray. Also for these reasons Arte Fiera is preparing to open its doors after a substantial slimming cure, with 150 galleries against 200 in 2011.
Firstonline – Professor Evangelisti, the editions of Arte Fiera that you curate have always been successful: why did you decide to reduce the number of galleries?
Evangelists – “To continue on the path traced, to keep the level of our event high. This year we will have beautiful pavilions, taking into account the fact that many galleries are in crisis and are making enormous efforts to participate in a fair that costs them between 50 and 70 euros. Fewer and fewer can afford this luxury, bringing really interesting works and artists. So I fought for less, but better quality”.
Is Firstonline – Arte Fiera suffering from competition from other events?
Evangelists – “Competition is relentless, there has been a notable development of national fairs, useful to gallery owners who have less resources and which absorb part of the small and medium demand. Then there are the big trade fairs, starting from Basel and Paris, with which we have to compete every year and the challenge is very high. Basel is the first fair in the world and also makes a stop at the business crossroads that is Miami, while Paris offers the Grand Palais, that is, the most beautiful setting one can imagine. Hong Kong is growing, absorbing much of the very important oriental market. In short, the match is with first-level players, who have an excellent country system behind them”.
Firstonline – While Arte Fiera pays a pledge?
Evangelists – “Not in numbers, because the 2011 edition was certainly the most profitable in its history, but we struggle a lot to make our interlocutors and local political decision-makers understand how important some things are, for example the white nights, i.e. the location of a series of initiatives in various places in the historic centre, accessible until midnight. On the national front, however, there is the fiscal handicap, which holds back the art market, making the country marginal. Italy would have all the credentials to play a leading role on the international scene, but we need to change our mentality. Artistic goods are subject to a 21% VAT, like luxury items, while the rest of the world, on average, remains below 10%. The result is that we have more tax evasion and less market. This attitude confines art, especially contemporary art, to the ghetto of the elite, because only the rich can afford to pay more. We have to stop thinking that Italy is just mandolin and spaghetti, Dante and Michelangelo. There is also a contemporary Italy, an artistically alive nation. Arte Fiera is the only stage in the world, or in any case the best, for Italian contemporary art, there is no museum that guarantees such a vast amount of proposals: do we want to make your life a little easier?”.
Firstonline – How do you see the future of the sector and of Arte Fiera in this context?
Evangelists – “I believe that keeping all this going will be difficult, for example without the strong support of the councilor for culture. Just think that Arte Fiera has never taken a penny from a public institution. It is a company that survives on its own and produces income. There are one hundred thousand people who visit our initiatives, last year 105 thousand tickets were sold in one evening, a record. We are a model imitated in the world. We are first in guided tours and in the educational laboratory. It takes awareness of what Arte Fiera means for Bologna. This year, in addition to the trade fair exhibition spaces, we will have one hundred events scattered throughout the city, from the Mambo, that is, the museum of modern art, to the film library. Bologna has great potential, you have to seize it, because with culture you live better and you can also eat”.
