White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 14Given these extreme forms of theeconomy of attention, there is a needto implement strategies which givemore authority to a particular nationalor local scene, or rather its qualitativelymost important component, as aninteresting stage for art capable ofoffering artists who operate on it anadequate initial reputation. In the lasttwo decades a rather complex situationhas gradually been taking shape in Italy.Artists belonging to older generations(such as those of Arte Povera or theTransavanguardia) enjoy high levels ofinternational recognition and attractgreat interest both from internationalart institutions and the market, whereasfor the younger generation thisfocusing process has paradoxicallyturned out to be more selective,filtering a very limited number ofnames, who are successful because theyabandon the Italian scene early forother countries providing greateropportunities for building a reputationand convincing the public. Theparadoxical nature of this state ofaffairs lies in the fact that in historicalterms the opposite usually happens: thepyramid of fame gets narrower as wego back through the generations, sincethe longer an artist remains on thecompetitive scene in the art system, thestronger the selection effect. In theory,there should be a large number ofyoung artists who achieve some degreeof initial success before the gradualselection takes place. In the Italian case,the opposite happens and this is due tothe fact that from one generation toanother, the rules of the game havechanged, or rather the standing of theItalian scene in the internationalcontext has changed – from a leadingstage to a relatively marginal secondarystage.14.3 Elements for acontemporary art policy inItalySo why does Italian art have a lowprofileon today’s global system? Thereis no lack of raw material, i.e. validartists potentially capable of attractingattention and interest on theinternational scene. The problem liesrather in the fact that our systemsuffers from a number of structuralweaknesses which considerablypenalises artists and forces them, ifthey really wish to aspire tointernational success, to go and live andwork elsewhere.Let us briefly outline these weaknesses.Firstly, the country lacks a collectingculture and institutional and corporateclients. In art systems with little privatecollecting, they traditionally offer artistsprofessionally qualifying andeconomically profitable opportunities,raising their social status and givingthem a sufficiently solid income toconcentrate entirely on a career in artwithout having to waste energy insecondary activities to surviveeconomically. But in Italy privatecollecting is anything but weak andindeed more widespread and lively thanin most countries. But it is also veryfragmented and there are relatively fewcollectors with big buying power. Thusa collecting system and competentpublic and corporate clients wouldmake an important contribution tocreating a demand base capable ofWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 322