Brera’s Contemporary Legacy

The project Brera’s Contemporary Legacy: Thirty Years of Artistic Research and Exhibition Activity develops a comprehensive data collection on the artistic and exhibition practices of students, alumni, and faculty members of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera across its various Schools and Departments. Its goal is to create a database that documents the presence, circulation, and impact of the Academy’s work in education, artistic production, and research within the contemporary art scene, both in Italy and internationally.

Data are collected through a range of methodologies, including:

• Direct interviews with a selected group of faculty members.
• Analysis of publications and catalogues documenting Brera’s exhibition activities over the years (including Salon Primo, Osservatorio, and publications by individual Schools).

The central focus of the research is Salon Primo, a long-term exhibition platform that, starting with an initial event in 1988, and subsequently from 1992 to 2015, plays a crucial role in presenting artistic research produced within the Academy. Organised in collaboration with Milanese galleries and institutional spaces, Salon Primo presents students' research curated and selected initially by the Department of Visual Arts and, from 2004 onwards, also by the Schools of Scenography, Art and Media, and Artistic Planning for Business.The project’s methodology and scope engage all six clusters of the IartNET initiative:

• Design and Applied Arts
• Art and Technology
• Visual Arts
• Theatre, Acting, Dance, and Performative Arts
• Cinema and Audiovisuals
• Music

Actions

Map and select sources

Identify the corpus of exhibitions, events, publications, and archival materials related to approximately thirty years of Brera’s contemporary artistic activity.

Conduct interviews

Carry out structured interviews with selected faculty members and other key figures involved in Brera’s artistic and exhibition practices.

Collect and analyse documentation

Gather catalogues, invitations, critical texts, press materials, and archival records related to Salon Primo.

Create metadata and catalogue entries

Organise collected data into catalogue units aligned with contemporary art documentation standards, including descriptive, technical, and contextual fields.

Digitise and archive materials

Digitise audiovisual and textual materials and prepare them for integration into the IartNET platform.

Develop the database architecture
Structure the dataset to allow cross-referencing between artists, exhibitions, schools, departments, and thematic clusters.

Publish selected records on the IartNET platform

Upload and disseminate data, ensuring clarity, accessibility, and interoperability across the IartNET ecosystem.

Design dissemination outputs

Prepare communication materials-summaries, visual excerpts, timelines, and thematic pathways, to present the project within Brera and across the network.