After the considerable attention shown by the fascist minister Giuseppe Bottai towards contemporary art, this sector, throughout the second half of the last century, was scarcely considered by the national legislator. The only intervention in support of artistic production was law no. 717/1949 entitled “Norms for art in public buildings” which in its original version, in order to create job opportunities for artists, provided that in the construction of new public buildings or in the reconstruction of public buildings destroyed by the war, the public administrations would have had to “allocate a share of no less than 2 per cent of their total cost to their embellishment by means of works of art”. This law has been the focus of numerous legislative changes aimed at soliciting its implementation and extending its scope. Lastly, Ministerial Decree May 15, 2017 updated the “Guidelines for the correct application of law no. 717 of 1949” and, referring to the partnership that has arisen between the arts and architecture, affirmed the opportunity to extend the application of law no. 717/1949 also to spaces intended for public use, in order to increase the public heritage of contemporary art.
Since the early 2000s there have been a few interventions for the definition of some organizational and procedural tools aimed at enhancing contemporary art; in 2001 the administration of cultural heritage endowed itself with a body dedicated to the promotion, incentivisation and enhancement of contemporary creativity, through the establishment of a DG for Contemporary Arts and Architecture. The office has undergone several changes over time and in 2019 its name was changed to DG for Contemporary Creativity with the expansion of skills to the sectors of cultural and creative enterprises, fashion, design and photography. Furthermore, law n. 29/2001 on “New provisions on the subject of initiatives in favor of cultural activities” provided in art. 3 the establishment by the ministry of a “Plan for contemporary art“, in order to allow for the increase of the public heritage of contemporary art also through the acquisition of artworks by Italian and foreign artists. The Plan (which in 2021 has an overall budget of over 3 million euros) is managed by the DG for Contemporary Creativity and today represents the most important public intervention tool in the sector. The objective of the Plan is to support museums, public places of culture, as well as private non-profit entities managing publicly owned places of culture, in increasing their collections, through the financing of acquisitions and support for production of new artworks.
The aforementioned Heritage and Landscape Codex deserves a separate chapter, with its uncertain definitions in relation to contemporary works of art. In fact, the provisions for the protection of cultural heritage do not apply tout court, since they are the work of a living author or their execution dates back to less than seventy years (or fifty years if they are of an exceptional interest for the integrity and completeness of the nation’s cultural heritage). On the other hand, contemporary works of art can be considered “cultural assets” – with all the consequences of the legal regime that this entails – if they are part of collections of museums, art galleries, galleries and other exhibition sites belonging to public bodies, or others, if the explicit declaration of their particularly important cultural interest has intervened.
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