Earlier this year, artist and curator Antonio Manfredi announced he would set fire to the permanent collection of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, located outside of Naples, to protest the lack offunding of the arts in Italy.
Earlier this week he went into action. With live webcams running, he set fire to painting by French artist Séverine Bourguignon, who watched the ceremony via Skype. A second painting was scorched by Neapolitan artist Rosaria Matarese last Wednesday, as the artist again watched via webcam.
Manfredi announced that he intends to burn three paintings a week as a form of protest. He hopes that the actions will bring attention to the lack of support for cultural projects and will get the government to give funds to the museum.
His actions are being criticized for setting up a demand that the Italian government will not be able to respond to, since Italy is currently being challenged with issues around the euro and tax hikes, pension hikes, and an increase in the retirement age has been implemented to help remedy the economic situation.
Will all 1000 paintings in the collection be burned or will funding go to the museum? The museum’s blog has a big image that says “CAM Art War,” – and as of today there are plans to burn paintings next week.
Image Source:
rt.com
Link:
Casoria Contemporary Art Museum Website