Success for Diaspora Artists with Solid Collaborations

In your experience, which living Italian contemporary artists have achieved the greatest visibility abroad, and thanks to which factors (e.g., galleries, biennials, exhibitions, curators, etc.)?
I would say the artists of the diaspora, but on the condition that they never completely leave our country so as not to miss the opportunity to exhibit at the Venice Biennale or to enter museum collections. Nemo propheta in patria, in short. Italian artists with visibility abroad have not only participated in prestigious biennials and institutional exhibitions, but have also secured solid collaborations with international galleries, in circuits such as Art Basel and Frieze, for example. I am referring to Francesco Vezzoli, who studied in London but often works with foreign institutions and is represented by Almine Rech; Monica Bonvicini, who studied in Berlin and has lived there for years, besides collaborating with König Galerie; Maurizio Cattelan, among the artists who live “between” — in his case New York and Milan; finally Piero Golia, an Italian artist currently represented by Gagosian gallery, who founded The Mountain School of Arts in Los Angeles.

In your opinion, which contemporary Italian artists have not yet achieved adequate visibility for their artistic value, and what are the causes of this lack of recognition?
There are numerous Italian artists undervalued by our national institutional system, which fails to provide the tools to produce adequate mid-career exhibitions and retrospectives. Artists like Rossella Biscotti, Marinella Senatore, Nico Vascellari, Adelita Husni-Bey should be more than sporadic presences in talks or private Italian institutions. They are artists who have developed formal vocabularies and aesthetic research of value. Furthermore, despite being invited and supported by the international art system, they have suffered, and sometimes continue to suffer, the fact that all Italian funding for exhibitions abroad passes through a single commission — the Italian Council — while foreign artists have access to multiple grants and opportunities.

In your experience, what are the steps and elements that favor the international career of a contemporary Italian artist? And where is the Italian system lacking in supporting contemporary Italian art on the international stage?
Postgraduate studies, residencies, participation in prizes, editorial collaborations and — why not — collective curatorial experiences that allow an emerging artist to expand their network of contacts, developing relationships over time. Regarding the Italian system, experiences like CSAV – Artists' Research Laboratory at the Antonio Ratti Foundation in Como or workshops with residencies at the Spinola Banna Foundation in Turin were fundamental for the growth of a generation of today’s middle-career artists, and it is a shame they no longer exist in their original form. Then there is the Venice Biennale, which in recent years has not been able to keep Italian artists circulating in the International Exhibition. Since 2017, all hopes have been entrusted to the Italian Council, conceived by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture. An initiative aiming at the internationalization of contemporary art — a goal certainly worth aspiring to — but which penalizes the already mistreated Italian contemporary art museums, some of which cannot even participate due to lack of their own funds, or the inability to sign the bank guarantee required to receive funding. The IC has created, one might say, a “competition among the poor,” whereas what was important was rather to offer support and recognition to Italian museums with certain and multi-year funding. The precariousness of mandates — with directors fired overnight as at the Centro Pecci, the tender procedures that force enormous bureaucracy to the detriment of the quality of the supplier, and now even the IC — produce extreme uncertainty, and without strong, visible institutions, Italian artists do not have the same chances as French, German, or American artists — to cite countries where the chances of success are greater. And I was about to forget to mention the local cronyism that harms the project’s reputation, with former IC jurors winning grants and proposing institutions without exhibition track records in contemporary art regularly standing out among the funding recipients.