Luigi Presicce and Roberto Ago Debate Italy's Art System

In an open letter published on Artribune, artist Luigi Presicce responds to critic Roberto Ago's controversial classification of Italian painters into Serie A, B, and C. Presicce argues that the blame for the lack of international recognition of Italian artists should not fall solely on artists but also on the entire Italian art system: academies that fail to teach, critics who do not critique, galleries that exploit artists, collectors who buy only cheap works, museums that demand artists pay for exhibitions, and the state that neglects artists' legal and fiscal status. He cites examples of internationally known artists like Mamma Andersson and Jorge Pardo, contrasting them with Italian artists such as Roccasalva, who remain unknown abroad. Presicce calls for a collective mea culpa and asks who truly created the 'colander' art system. Roberto Ago replies, defending his classification as a logistical metaphor for three levels of notoriety and skill, not a ranking. He insists that Serie C artists can improve with humility and self-criticism, and he criticizes curators and mentors for misleading artists. Ago reveals he has taken a second degree in philosophy and plans to write books, including his 'Lezioni di critica'.