The Duepercento platform
This website was created with the aim of highlighting what has been achieved with the 717/49 law, taking stock of the present and stimulating new projects for the future. Law 717/49, the so-called ‘two percent’ law, was issued in 1949 – in the midst of post-war reconstruction – to give impetus to the promotion of culture through the creation of works of art in newly built public buildings.
Specifically, the law required the Administrations (State, Regions and, in general, all public bodies) to allocate a percentage of the amount of the works, a maximum of two percent, for works of art to be placed in the new building.
This rule – which has produced interesting results over the years – is still in force, although often poorly or poorly applied. Its correct application, which involves the integration of art and architecture, could significantly contribute to the growth of the public heritage of contemporary art, with quality works.
Among its institutional tasks, the DGCC has precisely that of ‘supervising’ the application of law 717/49, both to promote and facilitate its implementation and to qualify the interventions.
Census of works created with the “two percent law”
Works created from 1949 to 1996.
The Duepercento platform reports the results of the national census promoted in the mid-1990s by the Special Superintendence of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
This large and detailed census is returned to the platform through photographic documentation and summary sheets that provide data on the works of art created (author, year, type) and on the related competitions (year of the tender, city and type of public building of destination of the work, share of ‘two percent’).
Out of over 1,000 works registered, the photographic campaign has currently documented around 550.
The mapping is enriched by the results of the censuses conducted by the regional authorities of Emilia Romagna and Liguria on the works carried out within their territories from 1949 to today which were published respectively in 2009 and 2016. Works carried out since 1997.
The research presents a selection of works created over the last twenty years, with specific insights dedicated to exemplary cases, documented and enhanced through historical-bibliographic material, images, video interviews and georeferenced data.
This first selection – which can be implemented with new and other interventions – is the result of research promoted by the DGCC, which aims to constitute a generator of new applications of the law. The research also involves the creation of an ‘observatory’ on public art practices promoted in Italy through other intervention strategies compared to the ‘two percent law’. The aim of this observatory, which presents a first sampling of particularly significant heterogeneous cases, is to offer a broader look at the relationships between contemporary artistic planning and the public sphere.
Further information
The Duepercento platform is integrated with a series of insights that provide the historical framework relating to the legislative process of Law 717/49 and the critical debate that accompanied it.
The chronology allows us to delve deeper into the background, birth and developments of the law and to trace the main moments of reflection and debate around the topic.
The bibliography presents a selection of the main articles, essays and volumes dedicated to this topic.