Renato Barilli criticizes Ralph Rugoff as new Biennale di Venezia director

Renato Barilli, professor emeritus at the University of Bologna, harshly criticizes the appointment of Ralph Rugoff as director of the 2019 Venice Biennale. Barilli argues that contemporary Biennale directors are chosen from the "curators" category, lacking strong ideas and historiographical hypotheses, unlike past directors such as Calvesi, Celant, Bonito Oliva, and Jean Clair. He dismisses Rugoff's proposed title "May You Live in Interesting Times" as a truism, and predicts Rugoff will avoid substantive questions about the direction of art, such as the return to painting, glocalism, the relationship between manual skills and new technologies, and the growth of female participation. Barilli also claims Italian participation will be relegated to the farthest pavilion at the Corderie, ghettoizing Italian artists. Rugoff directs the Hayward Gallery in London and has collaborated with important magazines, but Barilli asserts he has never produced a significant historiographical hypothesis.