In an art market where artist archives play an increasingly central role, it is essential to reflect on shared methods, responsibilities and procedures. What is the ideal composition of an authentication committee? How should relationships with collectors be managed? What guidance should be provided when counterfeit works are identified? What standards of transparency and documentation should guide the work of an archive?
Addressing these questions, more than ten years after its foundation, AitArt–Associazione Italiana Archivi d’Artista presents at MACRO the new Best Practices for Artist Archives: an updated set of principles, criteria and standards of conduct, resulting from a revision process carried out by a group of legal experts coordinated by Professor Alessandra Donati, lawyer and Chair of the Association’s Scientific Committee.
The new Best Practices address some of the key aspects of archival work: from the management and cataloguing of artworks and documentation to authentication and attribution procedures, from provenance research and methodological transparency to the composition of authentication committees and the management of relationships with applicants.
The event also offers an opportunity to broaden the discussion on the contemporary role of artist archives, not merely as bodies responsible for authentication, but as centres for research, documentary preservation and knowledge production, whose authority is built on rigorous methods, expertise, transparency and shared responsibility.
PROGRAMME
4.00 PM– Welcome and Introduction
Cristiana Perrella, Artistic Director of MACRO
4.15 PM – AitArt: Ten Years of Activity
Filippo Tibertelli de Pisis, President of AitArt
4.30–5.30 PM – Roundtable | The New Best Practices for Artist Archives
Introduced and moderated by
Professor Alessandra Donati, lawyer and Chair of AitArt’s Scientific Committee
Speakers:
Professor Andrea Barenghi
Lawyer Filippo Corbetta
Lawyer Dario Jucker
Lawyer Professor Arianna Visconti
5.30–6.30 pm – Roundtable | The Experience of Artist Archives
Moderated by Cristiana Perrella, Artistic Director of MACRO
Speakers:
Ilaria Bentivoglio – Archivio Mirella Bentivoglio
Ilaria Bernardi – Art historian and curator
Paola Bonani – Archivio Accardi Sanfilippo e Gastone Novelli
Elisa Camesasca – Archivio Roberto Sambonet e Pietro Pirelli
Marilena Pasquali – Archivio Morandi
Alfredo Pirri – artist – Archivio Alfredo Pirri
AitArt’s Best Practices are available on the Association’s website
The event will take place in the Auditorium.
Free admission, subject to availability.
AITART – ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA ARCHIVI D’ARTISTA, founded in 2014, brings together approximately fifty artist archives dedicated to the preservation, study, cataloguing and promotion of artistic heritage. The Association promotes the sharing of ethical principles and best practices for the rigorous and transparent management of archives, fostering dialogue between professionals and institutions. Through research, training and public engagement activities, AitArt contributes to strengthening the role of archives in safeguarding, understanding and promoting artists’ work.
In copertina: Carol Rama nella sua casa studio. Foto Pino Dell’Aquila ©Archivio Carol Rama, Torino