Christian Caliandro's Critique of Italian Cultural Conformism

In a two-part essay published on Artribune in September 2017, art historian Christian Caliandro reflects on the state of Italian culture, describing a summer evening in August 2017 where he witnessed a poorly curated 1960s memorabilia exhibition, a group of old men drinking Raffo beer in a dark square, and a crowded outdoor prayer with video projection on a church wall. He contrasts these scenes with the heat-warped CD cases in his car and a police checkpoint. Caliandro argues that contemporary culture suffers from 'adhesion' to shared values, which he finds disgusting, and calls for a categorical refusal of conformism. He critiques the classism of Italian culture, where only dominant class interpretations are promoted, and advocates for humility, rejection of easy irony, honest vernacular predisposition, sincere autobiographism, and social criticism without sentimentality. He references Frank Stella's works 'Gobba, zoppa e collotorto' (1985) and 'Indian and Exotic Bird Series' (1978-79), and quotes José Ortega y Gasset's 'Goya' (SE 2000, p. 31) on the marginal nature of Goya's caprices. Caliandro teaches contemporary art history at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and is a member of the scientific committee of Symbola Foundation for Italian Qualities.