Ten curators for one Pavilion

There are rare times when contemporary art breaks its own bubble to become a subject of public interest; the Venice Biennale is one of those times, indeed perhaps the only one. From this assumption comes the desire to get to know better the ten finalists for the role of curator of the Italian Pavilion, a prestigious role but full of pitfalls that has attracted much controversy over the years. We interviewed them with five easy questions to learn more about their experience, their vision and their strengths, what it means for them to represent Italy at the Biennale, and how they manage with fundraising, a fundamental skill (but hopefully not decisive for the purposes of the choice) to supplement the budget, which is nonetheless substantial, made available by the ministry, 800,000 euros; it is also interesting to see how the candidates manage to represent themselves and their vision through words and how they project themselves towards such an important role.

A commission composed of Angelo Piero Cappello, General Director of Contemporary Creativity and Commissioner of the Italian Pavilion, as president, together with Claudio Varagnoli, president of the Technical-Scientific Committee for Contemporary Art and Architecture of the MiC, the curator Luca Cerizza, winner of the 2024 Italian Pavilion with a project by Massimo Bartolini, and professors Ester Coen and Valerio Terraroli will select the triad of super-finalists, the minister Alesandro Giuli is instead entrusted with the final judgement.

As in the last two editions, the curators are required to submit a single-show, the decision is expected shortly as the call for entries is about to expire. Who will be the next curator of the Italian Pavilion between Ilaria Bernardi, BHMF, Cecilia Canziani, Valentino Catricalà, the trio composed of Alfredo Cramerotti, Clelia Patella and Auronda Scalera, Antonio Grulli, Marta Papini, Samuele Piazza, Diego Sileo and Francesco Stocchi?
The Italian Pavilion is anxiously waiting to know the name of its next tenant, someone who might finally give it the Golden Lion, there is room to put it!