A Daring Dialogue Between The Present And The Past. Does It Work? - A Qualitative Case-Study on the Venetian Art Scene

The thesis relates to the literature on museums and biennials, two cultural organizations which are scarcely juxtaposed in the existing debate on the subject of cultural events and cultural clusters. This study introduces one specific case and aims to present the art scene that revolves around the International Art Exhibition (the Venice Biennale) and, specifically, the ‘old art’ museums’ programming. This begs the question: ‘To what extent does the Venice Biennale affect the number of visitors to old art museums?’. We pose this question for a twofold reason: Venice is considered an ‘open-air museum’ because of its heritage and its forma urbis but it is also the place where the oldest Biennale in the world takes place. Moreover, in the last few decades, many old art museums have introduced contemporary art exhibitions in their programming in occasion of the Venice Biennale. Thus, we suggest that these special exhibitions are organized in order to achieve an increase in visitor numbers, leveraging the attractiveness of the temporary show. In order to analyze this phenomenon, we have chosen a qualitative study and we have conducted sixteen interviews with some of the main actors of the art scene in Venice. Our results show that the International Art Exhibition does not affect the visitor numbers; however, it has a great impact on the quality of them.