The scandal du jour involving on the one hand the Cinica Beautician, together with the director of the Pinacoteca di Brera Angelo Crespi, and on the other the people who attacked them on social media for, let’s say, improper use of the Braidense National Library, it has to do, as everything always does, with the power of money. It is a story that mixes capitalism and art history, public and private, ethics and aesthetics, both cynical and otherwise. But as in all disputes, opinions must be preceded by the rules that that same scandale du jour made possible. So, let’s go in order.
The controversy of the Cynical Beautician and the party in Brera, well explained
It happens Cristina Fogazzi, influencer worth 1 million followers on Instagram, was subjected to criticism when she posted images of the Veralab party (which has 653 thousand followers, while a zero must be added to its turnover, since it reaches 70 million) celebrated last Thursday in Milan, but not in a canonical location. The party, from the title Overskin Anniversary, had been organized, as explained by Fogazzi to his pheasants (the Beautician’s “swifters”, in short), “to celebrate one year of Overskin, the Veralab make-up brand, and the arrival in Spain”. But for the launch of the brand on the Iberian market, Fogazzi’s team in total fuchsia rented the Pinacoteca di Brera. And not just the courtyard, where there was a DJ set with and delivery of pizzas on white Vespa style The sweet life, but also in the internal spaces. Specifically, the dinner attended not by art critics, writers, intellectuals but, obviously, by Italian and Spanish fashion and beauty influencers (who according to Fogazzi were also invited to show the beauty of Brera to Spain, as if not if follower targeting had ever existed) it was held in the rooms of the Braidense National Library. Which is the third Italian library for the richness of its book heritage, cot over a million and a bunch of volumes, not to mention manuscripts, incunabula, periodicals, microfilms, historical photos. And this is where the problems come.
Braidense, in fact, is a highly protected place of culture, which ordinary mortals absolutely cannot enter with food. Indeed: they cannot even bring in small bottles and water bottles, because, exactly, you cannot normally drink water there, according to a strict regulation, but also rather normal given the historical importance of the volumes. But, again, it doesn’t end there: anyone who enters there, as several very angry commentators have pointed out, is obliged to wear gloves so as not to risk ruining the precious tomes stored there. Or the ancient shelves on which they are stored. All this was no longer valid for the Veralab event. The guests had dinner, had their photos taken leaning against the shelves, and used the flash to shoot reels. The images of this specific part of the party were not liked even by several of Fogazzi’s followers. “Poor Braidense library, where students can’t even enter with a bottle of water”, we read, and then, “What a fall in style. From you, an art lover, I didn’t expect this carelessness and arrogance : I can pay for it so I can do it“, recalling the interest that Fogazzi has also shown in the past for art, with various interventions also from contemporary art exhibitions and fairs.
To light the fuse, another highly followed Instagram page, Milan_secretto who, in a series of stories, wrote: “Yesterday a show was staged that was nothing short of unseemly, or rather, downright unworthy, which does no honor whatsoever to an important institution like that of Brera. Not even Vanzina in one of her films I think the trashiest Christmas has ever given rise to such absurdity, but whatever.” In a comment on the reel summarizing the event, Veralab, again Milano_segreta, which has something like 50 thousand followers, wrote “I would like to say many of those things about this circus, but it would be very offensive straight away, I’ll just say HOW DISGUSTING!”. Now, the comment messages are rather homogeneous in condemning Cinica’s choice, but to return to the rules mentioned above, it is necessary to explain why that event was made possible.
And the reason comes from 2014 and from a then centre-left Minister of Culture called Dario Franceschini. Which with his reform regulated the rental of the nation’s historical and artistic heritage to private individuals, making them more flexible. Which for some has become totally deregulated, for others it is a quick and clever way to raise funds to invest in restoration or conservation works of those same assets. But let’s see some numbers. Renting the Uffizi for a dinner for one hundred people was expensive, as he wrote in 2015 Republic, exactly one year after the reform, 15,000 euros, eating at the foot of Michelangelo’s David, at the Academy, cost 20,000. For the courtyard of the Medieval Civic Museum of Bologna, 2,000 euros are sufficient for the whole day. In Naples, the Salone delle Feste di Capodimonte was sold for 25,000 euros, in Rome the Salone di Pietro da Cortona in Palazzo Barberini was worth a maximum of 20,000. while “events involving the commercial launch of a product in the museum are subject to confidential negotiation“. The Veralab party falls into this last category, but here there would be a discrepancy with what was said by its director, Angelo Crespi, who, interviewed by Il Corriere della sera, paper version, said that Fogazzi would have spent 80 thousand euros, plus 15 thousand separately for the caretakers, because “the prices are not decided by the museums, but are rigorously defined by the ministry based on square metres, type of spaces, presence of works”. product launch parties or not? Crespi seems to deny it. What is certain is that the Cultural Heritage Code provides that public sites can be rented to private individuals, but only “for purposes compatible with their cultural destination”. Clause which, essentially, would like to prevent bizarre uses, such as choreographic step, zumba and totalbody sessions under the medieval frescoes of the Santa Maria della Scala complex in Siena (it really happened), “a pilates course in the beautiful atmosphere of Diocesan Museum of Milan” (this is also true) and, in fact, a rather relaxed dinner among books of inestimable value, normally protected like the lost ark.
Yet for Crespi, who gave the okay to Fogazzi, the party was compatible with the cultural destination of the space. Crespi, again at Corriere, said that renting the art gallery “is a practice that has existed for 8 years, since Bradburne’s time” and that “abroad it is the norm”. The dinner organized by the cynical beautician at Braidense took place in a side room and not in the main one, respecting the security measures: “There are ancient books, but not the most important ones, which are in the vault. The candles were fake and the dinner respected all safety standards.” But looking at the reel some doubts arise about this. And then, as the political philosopher Michael Sandel says, “if transformed into commodities, some of the good things in life are corrupted and degraded. Therefore, to establish where the market should be placed and at what distance it should be kept, we must decide how to value the goods in question”. For these reasons many believe it is a mistake to finance the artistic heritage by distorting its function, but the response to these is, like a dog chasing its tail, that whoever pays actually donates to that institution. And in Cynica’s vase, he donates a lot of money. In this regard, the entrepreneur again turned the issue around, talking about classism, but directed against her. According to Fogazzi, there would be a prejudice surrounding her figure. And she explains to the Corriere that “despite in the last few hours – like hundreds of other times –in those same spaces a big name in luxury received its guestsI, I have not seen riots and indignation. If, however, dinner is made by the cynical beautician, it’s not good. This is called classism. I’m not a designer label, but I pay taxes in Italy, I employ 101 employees in my company, 95% of whom are women. It has been written about ‘good taste’. Am I in bad taste? Why do I invite influencers? As if at the dinners of the big brands the guests were different.” But Cinica didn’t finish, continuing by saying that “Yes, they called me rich. But thank goodness there are rich people in a country where the social elevator has been at a standstill for years. Maybe some other rich person helps the coffers of a culture that since 2018 has not seen its funds increase, still below the European average.” The culture system is dry and those who help it are derided, is his bitter summary: “Saying that an enriched person cannot enter is the great short circuit of Italian culture which wants to remain elitist. Instead, culture belongs to everyone. And the more we show it to everyone, the more everyone feels empowered and welcomed.” And if the debate between who would end tout court to private individuals (and their money) and those who would impose a “selection upon entry” should reach the top levels, Fogazzi has a sharp proposal: “I wouldn’t ask Minister Sangiuliano for rules, I would tell him directly to ban events in places of culture. It would mean that the money that comes from it is no longer needed, it would mean that the State has found and paid the eight thousand employees who would be needed for the staff of the Ministry of Culture, that the funds for maintenance and restoration are there, that the entrance tickets can be reduced”. Listening to her, you can’t entirely blame her. So what do we have left of this strange Milanese story? A bit of confusion in the head, and the doubt that Fogazzi knows how to sell himself as well as the bug in the system. Maybe because he is sometimes.
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