The Irrelevance of Contemporary Art in Italy's Public Discourse

Christian Caliandro argues that the death of curator Germano Celant on April 29, 2020, was largely ignored by Italian evening news, which instead covered pop culture topics like Annalisa's music videos, Cesare Cremonini's videos, WWII art rescue, Uma Thurman's 50th birthday, and a talent show winner's quarantine. Half of national newspapers relegated the news to a brief note. Caliandro contends this neglect accurately reflects contemporary art's marginality in Italian public discourse, a separation rooted in the art system's elitism and classism. During quarantine, no visual artists were invited to public service announcements, unlike actors, singers, and writers. He questions why art fails to penetrate Italy's shared imagination, suggesting TV, social media, music, cinema, and series now shape it instead. Drawing from the Netflix documentary series 'Hip-Hop Evolution,' he notes hip-hop's deep connection to communities and urges contemporary art to learn from such popular participation to avoid remaining irrelevant.