Sgarbi is not missing the opportunity to make people talk about him. After his political vicissitudes of the last months, he has decided to run for mayor and transform Salemi into his small empire of culture, where he has surrounded himself with renowned names and prominent collaborators.
As many will remember, the irreverent art critic a few months ago was removed from the office of Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Milan. Mayor Letizia Moratti had judged his attitude intolerable. Sgarbi’s bright and innovative mind had caused many polemics and various exhibitions were censored before their inauguration. Disagreements and divergences that soon ended with the ex-councillor being removed from Palazzo Marino.

Considered for many years a trivial product of the mass subculture, the tradition of graffiti-art, Writing and Street Art intended in the broader sense of the term, has now broken into the art system. In Italy, for instance, the first space that housed this type of art was the Prada Foundation, which hosted Barry McGee.

Who, visiting an exhibition, has not felt the need to follow up their experience with the support of an audio guide? An instrument that everyone knows but which is now evolving in order to become increasingly user-friendly and truly useful for visitors.
One of the new frontiers of this evolution is the mobile phone audio guide. The idea generates from a simple observation: nowadays mobile phones are the most common means of communication and they are the most used instrument by categories of heterogeneous users.

translated by Giorgina Arcuri

Paduan artist Maurizio Cattelan, since the beginning of his howling rise in the contemporary art system, has always managed to make a strong impression, causing the printed media and websites of every type to talk about him constantly. An emblematic case occurred on 6th May 2004, when the city of Milan woke up bewildered to one of his works installed in Piazza XXIV Maggio. Three plastic manikins, representing children hanging from the branch of a large oak tree, provoked a great emotional impact and a huge psychological stir.

Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

It was announced months ago. The people of Milan and all the international visitors from the Salone del Mobile (who had sponsored it) waited eagerly. And instead it will not be there or at least the original will not be there. Peter Greenaway’s performance based on the idea of Leonardo’s Last Supper, was in fact considered as potentially damaging for the delicate fresco by the master. For this reason the superintendent denied the necessary authorisation unleashing a diplomatic case.

Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

The city of Milan is searching to grow in some way. After the notice of the EXPO anticipated for 2015 in the field of art, we see that the Lombard base is looking to keep in step with the other leading capital in the artistic sector.

Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION FOR COLLECTORS

Some pre-eminent commentators lament the lack of attention of collectors towards acquired works. According to Vittorio Sgarbi “Artwork today is above all, an investment. The perception of contemporary art is linked more to iconography than the effective quality of the artists and their works”. Discrimination in their choice isn’t more than the quality but the notary verification; the pleasure derived from enjoying an artwork seems to be outclasses by the satisfaction of having made a good investment.

There are artists that we cannot understand unless we know the places in which they’ve worked. It would be unthinkable to conceive Atget without Paris, Weegee without New York, and Ansel Adams without its enchanting mountains. The bond between Jan and Prague is evident even before confirmation of his biographical dates.