Alberto Zanchetta, art curator and since 2012, Director of MAC Lissone, represents what may be considered a somewhat more independent generation of professionals involved in curating high-quality events.

Author and essayist, lecturer at the Accademia di Urbino and Laba, Brescia; Curator of several international events, Alberto Zanchetta has published with Johan and Levi, ‘The Phrenology of Vanity’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty Encomion’ for Vanilla Edizioni.

He talks like a professional who collects challenges, not only conceptual, at a time when his other illustrious colleagues, in Italy and abroad, have unexpectedly left similar posts in other prestigious institutions. Yet the international contemporary art world is living a moment of particular tension in which, in several Italian institutions, executives enter without even meeting the challenge of a public appointment process; new and old curators are now elevated into cultural Messiahs who, between themselves, annoint questionable artists, often in very unfair ways and all this with obvious unjustified wasting of budgets.

Nevertheless, there are still those who believes there is still room for a certain integrity in promoting both historical heritage and the avant garde for the community benefit through the application of a single common denominator: respect for the rules. But what are the rules required today, especially, politically and strategically, that will avoid the damaging chi energy that is bringing to its knees an entire system of cultural management? We asked precisely to whom Lissone, in Italy, looks to make any difference.

1) Meanwhile prof. Zanchetta, thanks for taking part in this interview. Starting from the bottom: who is an artist or, at least, who really deserves to be considered as such?

A.Z. The artist is the one in front of whom we cannot remain indifferent or unscathed.

2) As a lecturer, you will also surely come across those you feel do not really justify the assignation of a term such as  artist, perhaps those that don't show exactly, in their  methods or conceptual processes, certain characteristics that the dictionary definition of the term, at least, requires. So why define them as such? Who establishes the identity and under what criteria? Do you not risk the creation of further cultural misinformation?

A.Z. In recent years, we are witnessing a confusion of roles and terminologies. The art system is changing so quickly, and with it the personalities who move within it. In short, we are in danger of losing that expertise that established itself since the advent of industrialization. During the 20th century it could be argued that the public nominated artists, then it was the turn of the galleries, then critics and museum directors, now seems to be the turn of international fairs and auctions. The factors involved are many, and each helps to determine the shape and the importance of an artist. What are random opinions and criteria, an artist you recognize quite easily if you are savvy, or if you have a minimum of experience.

3) Various artists, while possessing experience and technical capacity of expression, shown in many important exhibitions, exposed in museums and prestigious international institutions, were excluded from events in other countries, without even having received what was, at the time, a legitimate request for clarifications regarding appropriate technical justifications. The reaction, indicating some nepotistic and biased line, is taken almost immediately, especially in the moment in which other artists admitted by the same selection process do not reach even half the extent of the curriculum of those who have been excluded. In your position, the possibility of a mistake in a artists selection is always possible. Could you recognise evaluation defects in the selection of better artists who decide to participate in one or more events? If you can, what would you say of the other artists excluded: “They where all bad artists”? 

A.Z. In the Bible it is written “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." This is true for individuals but is it also true for their work? You judge what you see and what you know, expressing an opinion, never a verdict. In other words: do not judge the works unless you are called to do it! The evaluation criteria are many and vary depending on the individuals or committees; personally, I have always tried to take a logical and systematic policy (e.g. this could be thematic, disciplinary or  by residence) that would allow me to be objective and to make exclusions, as well as investments. However, there is no appeal, partly because the story – that of art, but not only art – is full of "eternal errors". Every artist has the right to receive adequate explanations, as practical and honest as possible; If this is done I would not be necessary for them to have to appeal on the grounds of "just cause" or "procedural defect".

4) Alberto Zanchetta: many people talk about you as the new man, ready to collect different challenges, especially now, at the head of a prestigious municipal institution such as the Mac di Lissone. What can we hope for in future from Alberto Zanchetta, Director-Curator? Do you feel the weight of so much responsibility?

A.Z. There is hope and despair in these years of recession, because the crisis is not only economic but also cultural. Criticism and curating, just like works of art, should be a moral act, as well as an ethical commitment, for which reason the resulting liability falls on some but not all (there is still too much indifference and opportunism in our environment).

5) Some of your illustrious colleagues, in Italy, but also abroad, despite following acclaimed exhibition successes, in institutions such as yours, have suddenly left their respective museums denouncing the large gap between "management accounting" and the cultural urgency for sustainability and greater accessibility to the museum spaces in question: "... Museums as places to live and not just to see, "as one said in an interview. What exactly is not really working within such important public administrations?

A.Z. We are undergoing a great cultural commodification. What  matters is not the quality, but the quantity: of the public, of profits, of reviews, of ratings, etc. Obviously, these are  political-managerial expectations that do not reflect the true objectives of a museum, much less take into account context, resources or of the actual possibilities with which you are forced to work. It's easier to speculate than to  produce culture; instead of worrying about the content to be displayed only to promote a large-scale event. Now, more than ever, there is a grueling standoff between the artistic direction and the administrative-entrepreneurial one, but to resign means giving in to the pressure and you must maintain the original vocation of the museum authorities.

6) What is a project that would  be impossible for Alberto Zanchetta to realise for the Mac di Lissone?

A.Z. An Im/possible projects I have envisioned during these years,  would, I feel. be one lasting a whole year. At regular intervals, the artists should be invited to exhibit their works in the Museum up to a point where the rooms are not completely saturated. In this way, the Museum will be filled gradually, like a deposit rather than an exhibition space: the view is thus a sort of constantly evolving site, which might exclude the viewer – unable to move about in the environment – to allow the works to regain possession of their living spaces; spaces that become "uncontaminated", not because they are neutral or blank but because they are expropriated by the visiting (who are transient elements) only for the placing of art (which is a lasting presence, which aspires to be eternal).

7) Artist or curator? From the point of view of an expert, what could be the most awkward position? And why?

A.Z. We love and hate each other. The relationship between artists and curators can be confrontational or idyllic, but it is this strange, ineffable alchemy that makes everything more exciting. I think it is preferable to be in an awkward position rather than to rest on our laurels. When the environment is challenging it is much more productive and creative. The role of the artist is neither better nor worse than that of the curator; simply, they have different skills which are  not parallel but which are complementary.

8) Today, if it is true that artists are not cultivated but most are manufactured, whose work is it to decide who has a possible professional career? Is there any point in studying art? It would be a waste of time, would it not?

A.Z. ...Not when you consider the Academy, or other similar institutions, as a "sentimental education" (rather than professional) art ...

9) In Italy, especially, a country with over 68% of the  international artistic heritage, someone at the head of the Superintendency maintains that it would be impossible and expensive to retrieve. In Italy, however, in all these years we have not even begun to create a cultural industry, as has happened in several European countries, which argue that possessing less than 15%of what Italy has , they would be able to survive with only the Cultural Industry. What could be for us a possible starting point?

A.Z. We could start by reducing our assets to 15% and manage using the example from other European Union countries! [the interviewee smiles]

10) Who is the contemporary artist that you like most? But then, what does Alberto Zanchetta, really consider to be so "contemporary"?

A.Z. The first question I decline, both for reasons of modesty and because a libertine does not reveal the names of their lovers, to avoid unnecessary jealousy. The second question I answer with the words of Marc Augé: «Art and, more precisely, artistic and literary creation, pose the problem of modernity. In many respects they are witnesses of our relationship with time and in particular of the simultaneous connection betweenthe past and future which, when shared, defines a form of contemporaneity ".