Renato Barilli criticizes Gian Maria Tosatti's appointments at Biennale and Quadriennale

Renato Barilli, professor emeritus at the University of Bologna, criticizes the recent appointments of Gian Maria Tosatti as curator of the Italian Pavilion at the next Venice Biennale and as sole director of the next Quadriennale in Rome. Barilli questions Tosatti's stature, stating he may be a genius but unknown to him and many colleagues. He argues that the Quadriennale, founded in the 1930s to provide a survey of Italian art every four years, has lost its way by extending its periodicity and relying on partisan critics. Barilli believes a single director is contrary to the Quadriennale's founding principles and that it should instead present a balanced overview of Italian art, including retrospectives of deceased masters and emerging movements, at the Palaexpo in Rome. He also notes a bizarre institutional rule preventing the Quadriennale director from traveling abroad to promote Italian art, a task left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and cultural institutes. Barilli contrasts the Quadriennale's struggles with the success of the Venice Biennale, which has become a global model, and the Milan Triennale, which abandoned its biennial architecture and design exhibition.