|
Art Defender SpA is the newly conceived and first company in the world of art that will take care of art by using an innovative network of high-tech systems and infrastructures, for the custody, preservation and restoration of prestigious Art Assets. The far-seeing initiative, which will revolutionise the protection and preservation system of valuable assets, bears the signature of Alvise di Canossa, a name that is already renowned in the art world in the capacity as president of Arterìa, leading firm in Italy and fourth in the world in the sector of logistics and handling of works of art. After the immediate success of Arterìa, conceived and made operative between 2000 and 2002, now its president has taken on a new challenge, providing the owners of artistic and prestigious objects with an entire range of instruments able to meet all their needs. The secret of the newborn and extremely efficient project is that it will offer complete assistance, on various levels, to the owners of precious pieces of art, following them in every stage to take care of their objects, from their safety to logistics and transport, from their custody to their preservation and restoration. Art Defender is addressed to a wide customer base, as there is a large request for such a service, which until now has not been dealt with. Therefore, this service is now available for institutional as well as private subjects, such as museums, institutions, foundations, insurances, banks, collectors, galleries, auction houses and antique dealers. In concrete terms, users can buy a space, which on a daily basis costs on average 2.29 euros per square metre, where they can keep and observe their valuable pieces. The innovation consists in having made this space usable both physically and virtually, in complete safety: owners can access the box assigned to them and enter it physically or through a rigorously controlled IT system, thanks to which they can comfortably monitor – from where they are – the state of the objects kept there, as if they were within reach. For professionals of the art market this area could become a sort of virtual gallery where they can show works to their clients, allowing them to examine them carefully with the aid of avant-garde equipment, records, photos and other information. But that is not all, as the universe of Art Defender’s services is actually proposing much more. Indeed, the company – which already counts on shareholders like Arterìa, Alleanza Toro Assicurazioni, Unione Fiduciaria delle Banche Popolari and a partnership with Axa Art – offers its customers a wide range of solutions: cataloguing of assets, photos, Arterìa will take care of the logistics and transportation of works, a sophisticated system of surveillance will guarantee safety, and Alleanza Toro and Axa Art are setting up new insurance projects. Furthermore, a collaboration with the most prestigious schools of restoration will provide all customers, including private ones, an accurate service of diagnostic investigations and of targeted restoration, once the real quality of the object has been attested. In an interview released to the Giornale dell’Arte, Alvise di Canossa added that the service offered by these specialised centres will give a further guarantee to the value of the work. The head office is now in Cernusco sul Naviglio, but in fact the first operational stations will be opened in the autumn of 2010 in Florence and Bologna. Between 2013 and 2014, other centres will be opened in Milan, Rome, Venice and Turin, the latter being dedicated in particular to contemporary art. From the interview mentioned above we can gather that this titanic and intelligent deed will be a successful initiative on more than one front: it provides a very useful and requested service, that had been missing until now – adding the value of preservation to the current widespread service of mere custody – it reinforces and reassesses the position of Italy as the site of excellence and culture, as a strategic and equipped place that can host the transit of works even from abroad, and finally – an extremely important factor – it opens new job opportunities to many professional figures of the sector, which already exist and have been trained, but until now have been waiting to find a job in this fascinating and specific field.
|
Loading ...