PLAN FOR A CITY MUSEUM

Vitaliano Corbi

The belief that tourism is an important economic resource for the country has often led public administrators and citizens alike to have great confidence in all the initiatives that, in one way or another, should have the capability to promote it. There is hardly a public initiative nowadays in the field of contemporary art that is not planned in the perspective of so-called "cultural tourism". An exhibition attracts interest when its function as an "attractor" is recognised; when, regardless of its cultural value, it is believed that it will help direct the flow of tourists towards the place that is hosting it. In reality, a series of conditions are necessary for art tourism to truly become an important factor of economic development. They go from an adequate policy for the protection and enhancement of the environment and its historical and natural patrimony to the efficiency of services and accommodation and to the ability to plan and coordinate. All these factors combined make an exhibition or a concert in the square something more than an isolated event or simply a "festive" moment in the fabric of a dull and squalid everyday existence.  When these preconditions are lacking, the "grand event" - as any pretentious art show is pompously described nowadays - arouses no more than a modest interest in the local media and a marginal increase of approval: The aim of intercepting the flow of tourists remains beyond reach. As a matter of fact, it becomes an unattainable false promise for which all other goals are sacrificed, abandoning the development of a more courageous cultural policy capable of having a positive impact on public opinion and, I would even say, on the population's civil conscience.

This brief introduction was necessary to attract attention to a fundamental aspect of the A City for Art plan, entrusted by the Municipality of Casoria to Antonio Manfredi and to the International Contemporary Art Centre. The plan has already produced some remarkable results, such as the International Symposium that took place last October and the creation of the Sculpture Park. A decisive moment of transition is now being faced with this exhibition that sees the participation of about one hundred artists from around the world and will lead to the creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art in the city of Casoria.

I have been following the generous efforts of Manfredi and his collaborators with admiration and great interest, but only from the outside, and so it is certainly not up to me to explain the plan's contents and objectives. But I do think that it is right for someone who has been participating for many decades in events in the world of art in Naples and elsewhere, with the role at least of public witness, to point out the very infrequent event of a city administration that, in abandoning the usual initiatives in pursuit of the hope of some electoral advantage or increase in tourism, is instead committed to a long-term plan that is centred on objectives for the cultural and civil development of society. Those who have had the opportunity to follow the various phases of the International Symposium of Sculpture, which brought together the organisers of the exhibition, the artists and the people of Casoria with the active participation of a large number of students, know that our considerations refer not only to the motives that inspired the A City for Art plan, but also concern the actual operating plan that is already in place.  

A characteristic feature of the plan is without a doubt the manner in which it tackled the objective of involving young people, by putting students directly in contact with the artists and their work. It is obvious that this proposal is based on the belief that artistic activity cannot be reduced to a naïve and pre-reflective need of expression. It contains a factor of critical awareness and this self-reflective dimension is closely connected to the concrete production of art work. In reality, self-reflection and a pragmatic opening to the world are polarities that make up artistic expression, and it is not by chance that they are present and explicitly made a subject of contemporary art, beginning with the historic avant-garde movements at the beginning of the 20^th century. It should also be noted that the importance of the educational dimension is not simply a consequence of having identified in schools a suitable terrain for an initiative for the promotion and understanding of contemporary art. This dimension is already implicit in the open and constitutionally problematic nature of art and can be perceived in full when, by turning our attention to the procedures of artistic research, we understand the connection with every other moment of experience and the impact on the development and growth of the individual. It is not by chance that John Dewey was among the first to stress this imaginative passion that projects artistic research beyond sight of the existent and who saw in imagination "the essential tool of education". The irreplaceable role of artistic imagination lies, on one hand, in its ability to adhere to the reality of experience, sounds, colours and to the sensitive qualities of the things of the world, and, on the other, in the need for totality that is expressed in it. Through art we sense that the objects that our intellect allows us to reach are fragments of that possible totality of experience that our imagination reveals to us.  Since Kant, we know perfectly well that no particular cognitive content corresponds to the idea of the totality of the internal and external world and that, as a result, it cannot have the nature of effective knowledge.  But this idea of totality, which can only aspire to be a regulative model, is reflected in the organic unity of the artistic experience, in the immanency of the whole in all its parts and of the end in the means that it appears capable of achieving, even in its limitedness. Fragments of personal stories, different linguistic styles and discordant expressive accents and cognitive traces "normally" destined to remain separate coexist in works of art. But their coexistence is not only a fact. It is the result of sharing a project that is recognisable as an organic element that spans and holds together the variety of differences. The aesthetical value is not a seal of totality impressed once and for good, but is rather an aspiration and the visible trace of a process that reaches the moment of its achievement  and also of its renewal in the work. The awareness of this procedural strain is at the heart of the idea of a museum that is not only a place to conserve and exhibit works of art, but is also a venue for research and experimentation, a place to meet and for constructive dialogue or, as Manfredi rightly says, a "laboratory museum".

The layout of the A City for Art plan, clearly indicated in the objectives that have already been achieved, allows us to table another consideration. The well-deserved attention towards the problems of organising cultural activity and the recognition of the importance of the activities carried out by private galleries in the distribution and sale of works of art does not justify the transformation of the market into protagonist of art history. The result is slight interest of the media and public institutions towards the specific problems of art education and production, towards study and research and art studios, schools, art academies and universities, i.e. towards the context of the conditions and factors – that cannot be reduced only to the market circuit – that contribute directly to the development of the world of art. A museum of contemporary art must relate to this situation and not only to the activities of private galleries. Of course, the market is a reality that conditions significantly, for better or worse; the development of artistic activity and a democratically elected administration cannot ignore it.  However, the A City for Art plan provides the valuable indication that it is necessary to relate to this reality on the basis of an independent plan for cultural development, and that, by doing so, we can avoid giving publicity to those that fashion and the marketplace have already made successful.

And finally, mention should be made of the outspoken and constant reference to art as an instrument of solidarity among peoples by the curator of the plan and by the representatives of the institutions involved in it; to the necessity that the current hasty process of globalisation of the economy and communications be aimed not so much towards the elimination of diversity, but towards understanding, as a force in the creation of a world ethic founded on mankind's common sense of belonging. The markedly international scope of the plan in all its stages and this exhibition, in particular, demonstrate that art can also assume this ethical commitment and make its contribution to reciprocal understanding among peoples and to a peaceful and constructive coexistence, in which different traditions are able to find an ethical and philosophical justification and can carry on in a fraternal atmosphere. The globalisation of trade, which accelerates economic competition and tends to impose the same standards, could also be fostered as a commitment for it to be transformed into opportunities to open up to others and to dialogue with all of mankind, so that also the field of art and creativity truly becomes the sphere of liberty and enhancement of diversity.

Naples, March 2005