Gianfranco Maraniello resigns as AMACI president, calls for museum model rethink

Gianfranco Maraniello, outgoing director of Mart in Rovereto, has resigned as president of AMACI, the association of Italian contemporary art museums, ahead of his mandate's end in May 2020. In an interview with Artribune, he argues the COVID-19 crisis forces a re-evaluation of museums' public role, moving away from metrics like visitor numbers and ticket sales. He criticizes the past decade's focus on blockbuster exhibitions and rankings, which he says weakened criticism and homogenized museums. Maraniello advocates for context-specific solutions rather than a single model, citing examples like MAMbo, Rivoli's slow museum, and Macro's new identity under Luca Lo Pinto. He notes that Mart is expanding outdoors thanks to Mario Botta's architecture, in collaboration with the university and local cultural actors. On the government's 'rilancio' decree, he says it addresses immediate risks but lacks innovation. He sees potential in the new relationship between AMACI and the MIBACT's Direzione Generale Creatività led by Margherita Guccione, and highlights past successful cooperation with the Farnesina for contemporary art diplomacy. Maraniello emphasizes that museums must produce value for non-visitors too, and that the crisis opens a breach in dominant rhetoric, allowing for radical proposals and a revision of the contemporary art museum concept.