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Article: Divided we stand. (Italy's diversely located centers that are devoted to contemporary art)
- Article from:
- Artforum International
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Unlike France or Great Britain, Italy has no single city from which the nation's cultural life radiates. Instead, our country's history of decentralization-until the middle of the nineteenth century it was a medley of small independent states - has given us a wealth of diverse urban centers, large and small, with disparate cultural legacies sustained by a range of economies. Taken together, they create a variegated fabric that makes Italy, depending on one's point of view, either a big backwater or a sprawling capital.
When it comes to institutions of contemporary art, this general decentralization is intensified to the point of paradox. This is particularly the case ...