Vincenzo Trione on the Future of Art and the Avant-Garde

Art historian Vincenzo Trione, born in 1972, is a professor of Art and Media at IULM University in Milan, where he also serves as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Tourism. In 2015, he curated the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Trione cites Giulio Carlo Argan as his primary inspiration, admiring Argan's ability to integrate art history, criticism, public engagement, and institutional responsibility. His most representative project is the four-volume Treccani Encyclopedia of Contemporary Art (2021), which covers art from 1900 to 2020 with a geopolitical perspective. Trione remains deeply connected to Naples, having directed the research and training department at the Madre Museum and recently serving as a consultant for art and museums under Mayor Manfredi. He believes the past is crucial for the future, referencing Walter Benjamin's concept of "constellation" as seen in his exhibitions "Postclassics" at the Roman Forum and Palatine, and the Italian Pavilion. He advises young art historians not to limit contemporary art to the post-war period and to read widely outside their field. Trione sees the sacred as a persistent force in contemporary art, despite a trend toward profanation. He envisions the future guided by three ideas: alterity, avant-garde (as a 20th-century concept of disruption and invention), and visionary thinking, echoing Rilke's notion of grasping the future before it happens.