Seminar on Art and the Market
The Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte is continuing its contemporary art study programme this spring from 24-26 May with three days of analysis and study in the form of a seminar, dedicated to the relationship between contemporary art and the market.
The meetings are specially designed for those young artists who have taken part in the intensive workshops organised by the Fondazione from 2005 to 2007. Their aim is to analyse the complex relationship between contemporary art and the market from various standpoints in order to provide the most comprehensive picture possible of this phenomenon.
During these three days, organised around a precise calendar of events, different experts working in this sector (art critics, art economists and historians) will divulge to the public of young artists short but detailed accounts of their own specific competences in this field, so as to probe the world of contemporary art that they have already been exposed to during previous workshops and art-related conferences more deeply.
The idea of investigating the reciprocal influence of contemporary art and the market comes from the realisation that this particular theme is of fundamental importance for the professional development of each artist. Sometimes even artists with a solid and extensive exhibition background are subjected to all manner of disinformation.
The market is often viewed with unreserved mistrust, or it is simply considered to be an unavoidable fact of life. It is rarely the subject of discussion during curricular activities in art schools, and consequently it is all too often considered acritically, without taking into account its multifaceted nature.
We will therefore begin with a structural analysis of the field in an attempt at identifying those figures whose combined efforts demarcate and define the art economy as a whole.
A key figure has been chosen to define each sector. These professionals will talk about their own specific experiences and illustrate their role, at the same time chairing the discussion and suggesting further areas of study.
Bearing in mind the essentially pragmatic nature of each seminar, the speakers were chosen according to their expert knowledge of their own specific fields, and their elevated communicative and didactic skills, to shed light on the phenomenon in “Italy” (even if considered from an “international” standpoint).
Gallery owners, art critics, museum staff and economists were among the many possible speakers considered, not to mention contemporary art collectors, fair organisers, auctioneers and, or course, artists.
Four seminars will take place during the course of each day (mornings and afternoons) with group discussion sessions and breaks. Open dialogue seemed to be the best way of exploring each topic in order to avoid an excessively academic approach or a tendency towards the superficial use of made-to-measure answers.
The aim is to provide participants with the most comprehensive range of investigative tools possible to help lay the foundations for a clearer awareness of the system. Sharing experience and careful consideration alone can consolidate this awareness.
As well as delimiting the themes of discussion, the governing body of the Fondazione Spinola Banna per L’Arte has selected a number of speakers from the vast number of Italian professionals who best match the above-mentioned criteria.
Program:
Thursday May 24
- Piergiovanni Castagnoli (Director Museum Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin)
- Stefano Baia Curioni (Associate Professor economic history, Director CLEACC, Bocconi University, Milan)
- Stefano Moreni (Director Modern and Contemporary Department Sotheby’s Italy)
Friday May 25
- Renato Alpegiani (Collector, Turin)
- Cristina Raviolo (Frieze, London)
- Alberto Garutti (Artist, Milan)
Saturday May 26
- Angela Vettese (Art Critic, Director clasAV IUAV Univesity, Venice)
- Angelo Chianale (Collctor, Turin)
- Franco Noero (Gallerist, Turin)
