Why This Italian Art Museum Is Seeking Asylum

Museums around the world are threatened by lots of things today, but usually the mafia isn’t included in that long list. The Contemporary Art Museum of Casoria (CAM, for short), in Casoria, Italy, however, fears the dark forces of La Cosa Nostra so strongly that they have asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to provide them with sanctuary in Germany, which would mean moving the entire museum—staff included—across the border. Is Antonio Manfredi, the director of CAM and an artist himself, serious when he calls this “a warning scream from Italian art,” or is this just an elaborate performance art piece from an institution that specializes in the medium? If this museum asks and receives sanctuary, should (can?) other museums do the same? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why This Italian Art Museum Is Seeking Asylum."

[Image: View of The Contemporary Art Museum of Casoria. Courtesy of the museum.]