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Feb.6,2005 -Feb.13,2005 |
Interview with Carlo Coen
'Promoting culture without profit simply doesn't exist'
By Niccolò Marras
Originally Published: 2005-01-30
Carlo Coen, director of Toronto's Istituto Italiano di Cultura, is leaving us. In August, he will depart from Toronto, although he still doesn't know his destination. Whether he will return to a Foreign Ministry position in Italy or go to another location outside that country is still to be decided.
"We spend nine years abroad, and then return. We can be posted to several places, for instance, spending three years in each of three different cities, or less than that, but not more," he explained.
Coen, born in 1951, has a 25-year career under his belt, six of which were spent in Toronto. One of his favourite pastimes is playing soccer as a defender, but a few days ago he got one kick too many and complained of a sore ankle.
Soccer aside, the interview he granted us touched upon several issues, such as funding, activities carried out in the past and those programmed for 2005, relations with other institutes, universities and museums, as well as his management style at the Italian Cultural Institute.
Mr. Coen, shall we begin with some criticism that people address to the Institute?
"They're right, all of them. In every criticism there is always some measure of truth. Institutions are regulated by the law, and one cannot go beyond that. Directors are the only people who can be blamed for anything, if they did not do a good job."
One of the criticisms maintains that the Institute could do more in organizing highly visible events, while it prefers taking advantage of other institutions' work, such as with the Modigliani exhibition.
"Taking advantage of what gets done is meritorious. Being a part of city events and collaborating is positive. As far as the Modigliani exhibition is concerned, when we learned of the intention to organize it we wrote to the Art Gallery of Ontario and proposed to sponsor it with a monetary contribution of about €6,000 (just under $10,000), and this is how the three lectures on the artist were born. The visitors appreciated them quite a lot. No exhibition on Modigliani has been organized in North America for about 40 years, and this was an important event. On the other hand, borrowing the paintings wasn't easy. Private collectors ask as much as $25,000 US each. The Modigliani exhibition must have had a price tag of about $2 million. Moreover, organizing such an event isn't always possible. For instance, Toronto's two main museums have long programs, they can only plan for 2008 or 2010. There's also the problem of investment return. Nothing gets done unless there's a return. The concept of promoting culture without profit simply doesn't exist."
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