Narratives of Contemporary Brera

The seminar Narratives of Contemporary Brera aims to investigate the role of institutions in narrating contemporary art. Following an initial overview of the importance of pedagogical practices capable of fostering critical awareness of what is defined as art, the discussion addresses the critical issues inherent in the different models adopted by museums and art academies to document and narrate artists’ works. Starting from the interview as a direct model through which artists articulate their own research processes, the seminar examines exemplary case studies and reflects on some of the challenges and limitations associated with this narrative practice.

The day features contributions by Laura Cherubini and Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, two leading voices in the history of contemporary art since the 1980s, whose curatorial work and teaching activities at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera shape generations of artists prominent in the national and international art scenes. Maura Favero (MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome) reflects on documentation as a dialogical practice aimed at the creation of a meaningful corpus on and for the artwork.

The seminar concludes with a round-table discussion involving artists who train under Alberto Garutti and Luciano Fabro and who participate in a research project dedicated to the interview as a narrative tool. The interview project, conceived according to an approach that is neither journalistic nor academic but rather as a conversation and an exchange of reflections on issues such as artistic training, techniques, materials used in the creative process, and the conservation of artworks, involves 24 artists in its first phase, five of whom, Rebecca Agnes, Simone Berti, Ettore Favini, Bernhard Rüdiger, and Anna Scalfi, speak to share their experiences and any critical issues with this form of communication.