Art and architecture are fields where the apparent difficulty in objectively evaluating work or a piece of art allows bad practices to grow unchecked.

Comments such as: …public art is commercial advertising disguised as private art, or that public art is a joke and should not be (alongside the cows on public streets) respond to a reality. When observing the programming of museums and art centers, one sees that the names of a few curators and artists are repeated, that there are many imported exhibitions, and that art follows a single formal line. This can translate into closed art for the benefit of a few, which can be summarized as public art with private interests.

This scheme of “the public sphere serving certain private interests more,” when transferred to hiring and the awarding of tenders, translates into “illusory competitions” for projects or jobs. In some cases, illusory candidates are created to serve as filler to comply with current legislation, and in others, it is presented as if it were an actual competition and people are urged to participate; this latter case is even more perverse, as it toys with the work and hope of others.
When bad practice becomes institutionalized, we are in a state of corruption rather than democracy. It is normal that not everything consists of good practices—among individuals, institutions, or governments—and it should also be normal for control mechanisms to exist. If weeds grow, they must be cut, and a structure must be created to prevent them from growing back.

An ITA or “Technical Inspection of Art and Architecture” is proposed. An independent agency that would have two fundamental goals: first, to monitor the quality and public selection of art financed with public money or located in public spaces, as well as the competition and hiring process for works and people; and second, to give the primary producers of the work—artists, architects, and authors—real agency.

The inspector could be the artist themselves, acting as an evaluator. Artists not only make art but also give art a place in culture. To do this, they need recognized agency and resources. The problems of art are the same as those of science: “free” and independent funds are not held by the primary producers, and artists and scientists are continually validated by external agents.