Report, the art historian Benzi: “Sangiuliano decided everything on the exhibition on Futurism, not even Mussolini ever did that”

“They agreed on everything, there was a very long protocol that had been undertaken and agreed upon. That is, they agreed on all the travel, costs, etc.” but then “there was a total veto” on the part of Minister Sangiuliano who decided everything on the Futurism exhibition and “not even Mussolini ever did”. Art historian Fabio Benzi, one of the leading Futurism experts and curator for the Kröller Museum in the Netherlands, tells Report this of an exhibition on Futurism which the then director of Maxxi and now Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, had turned to for propose to take her to Italy. “Then I learned that they were going to talk to the minister and there was a total veto” Benzi tells the author of the investigation Giorgio Mottola. From whom? “Sangiuliano himself” who, adds Benzi, would have said that “we have to do this exhibition” Who? “It was the exhibition of an Italian…So I don’t know who. Maybe those from his political side, I imagine.” We on the right? “Maybe we on the right” replies the art historian. Since then, Mottola states in the report, that exhibition “a major cultural event of the Meloni government, has so far turned out to be a mess full of gaffes, conflicts of interest and small scandals”. With the case of the co-curator Alberto Dambruoso who, again interviewed by Report, denounces having received an assignment that was never formalized. What happens then is summarized by Mottola: “For more than a year – states the journalist – Simongini and Dambruoso worked hard on the Futurist exhibition, putting together a monstrous number of works to be exhibited. Over 600. But costs and artistic choices are not right down in Sangiuliano. The minister then appoints an organizing committee: its members include the director of the museums Massimo Osanna, the director of the national gallery Cristina Mazzantini and the president of Maxxi Alessandro Giuli. The organizing committee is effectively commissioner curator and co-curator”. And in some cases Minister Sangiuliano himself makes the choices on which works and objects to include in the exhibition. A fact, says Benzi, “irritual. Look, Mussolini never did it either, I can tell you. Mussolini has always avoided the idea of ​​state art and therefore propaganda. So Mussolini didn’t do it, but why should they do it?”. READ “Don’t broadcast the reports on Toti and Giuli”, the right against Report