In April 2015, manager Franco Bernabè was appointed President of the Foundation. Under his presidency, the Art Quadriennale returned after an eight-year absence, its 16th edition taking place at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni from October 2016 to January 2017 under the title ‘Other times, other myths‘. The exhibition was put together by eleven curators belonging to the new generations. The 16th Quadriennale, which featured 99 artists and 150 works, was conceived as a dynamic mapping of the artistic and cultural production of contemporary Italy. Each of the ten exhibition sections explored a theme, a method, an attitude, a genealogy connoting the artistic projects. After the 16th Art Quadriennale, the Board of Directors decided to structure the Foundation’s medium-term programming by entrusting a professional selected through a public call for applications and appointed as Artistic Director with the task of planning and implementing cultural activities in the 2018-2020 three-year period. There were two guidelines: the consolidation of the Quadriennale as an observatory of recent events in Italy’s visual arts and the establishment of a platform for supporting contemporary Italian artists. The aim was to identify a coherent, recognisable path in preparation for the 2020 Art Quadriennale. Sarah Cosulich was appointed Artistic Director in December 2017. Together with Stefano Collicelli Cagol, who had been appointed curator of the Foundation, Cosulich designed a path for 2018-2020 that focused on two main activities, in line with the call for applications: a project for the scouting, training and networking of young artists and curators (Q-Rated) and a project for supporting Italian art abroad (Q-International). During the three-year period, the two macro-projects were accompanied by research, events, visits to exhibitions, analysis of artists’ portfolios and studio-visits in constant dialogue with the history of the Institution and its archive. The final outcome was the ‘2020 Art Quadriennale FUORI‘, as curated by Sarah Cosulich and Stefano Collicelli Cagol, which included a selection of 43 artists active from the 1960s to the present day and over 300 works, with over half of the artists being under 40 years of age and a large female representation. ‘FUORI’ was an unexpected reinterpretation of Italian art through previously unseen bridges between generations and sectors of creativity such as painting, sculpture, photography, video, drawing, installations and works resulting from the interplay between the visual arts and other disciplines such as theatre, dance, cinema, fashion, architecture, music and design. In the meantime, important news about the Institution’s headquarters came to light. With an Enhancement Agreement dated March 2018, the Italian Ministry of Culture assigned to the Foundation the monumental complex of the former Papal Arsenal on Ripa Grande, which is currently being renovated.
