Arte Fiera returns from 6 to 8 February 2026, with a preview scheduled for 5 February. Pavilions 25 and 26 have been reconfirmed with easy access from Piazza Costituzione. This will be the year of the first artistic direction of Davide Ferri, who will be joined by Enea Righi, in the role of operational director.
Enea Righi (a sx) e Davide Ferri. Foto di Chiara Francesca Rizzuti, courtesy Arte Fiera
The next edition of Arte Fiera will be attended by 174 galleries, to which must be added twelve stands in the section dedicated to publishing and fourteen dedicated to institutional bodies, for a total of two hundred exhibitors. Many prestigious galleries will be present at the Main Section of Arte Fiera; here is a summary list: Alfonso Artiaco (Naples), Atipografia (Arzignano / Milan), Barbati Gallery (Venice), Biasutti & Biasutti (Turin), Galleria Continua (San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana / Rome / São Paulo / Paris / Dubai), De’ Foscherari (Bologna), Frittelli (Florence / Milan), Alessandro Bagnai (Florence / Foiano della Chiana), Giovanni Bonelli (Milan / Pietrasanta / Canneto sull’Oglio), Studio G7 (Bologna), Mazzoleni (Turin / London / Milan), Mazzoli (Modena / Berlin), Massimo Minini (Brescia), Giorgio Persano (Turin), Tucci Russo (Torre Pellice / Turin), Zero… (Milan).
Buck Ellison, “Betsy and Elissa, Ada, Michigan”, 2018, archival pigment print, 147,32 x 195,58 cm. Courtesy Barbati Gallery, Venezia
The Main Section will be accompanied by five invitation-only sections/excursions. The first, dedicated to the photographic medium, is titled “Photography and its Surroundings” and is curated by Marta Papini. The second, devoted to art in multiple copies, falls under the “Multiples” category and is curated by Lorenzo Gigotti. The third, entrusted to Ilaria Gianni, will focus on contemporary painting, and is titled “Painting XXI”. The fourth, titled “Perspective”, will be coordinated by Michele D’Aurizio and will emphasize younger artists. The final section, titled “Ventesimo+”, will focus on galleries operating in a historicized field and will be curated by Alberto Salvadori.
Claire Fontaine, “The World’s Mine Oyster”, 2024, shaped lightbox, digital print, dimmer, transformer and cables, 100 x 149 x 80 cm. Courtesy De’ Foscherari, Bologna
Finally, noteworthy is the renewed collaboration with the Furla Foundation for the program of live actions curated by Bruna Roccasalva, the Foundation’s artistic director. After the interventions of the collective Public Movement (2023), the artists Daniela Ortiz (2024) and Adelaide Cioni (2025), the artist chosen for the 2026 edition of Arte Fiera is Chalisée Naamani (1995, France). Chalisée Naamani’s practice is distinguished by a transversal approach that heterogeneously intertwines painting, sculpture, fashion, and technology. Her research explores the construction of identity and the mechanisms of bodily representation in contemporary visual culture, moving between mainstream culture, art historical references and autobiographical notes.
Reena Saini Kallat, “Paper machine”, 2012/13, painted fiberglass-reinforced panel, 51 x 157 x 76 cm. Copyright of the artist. Courtesy Richard Saltoun, Londra / Roma / New York
For Arte Fiera 2026, Chalisée Naamani will premiere a work in which she interweaves symbols, materials, and images referencing the Pavilion de l’Esprit Nouveau, rebuilt in 1977 in the park in front of the fair, as a faithful reconstruction of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret’s project for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. It is therefore clear that, beyond the pretext offered by a monument that is a symbol of our contemporary era, these interweavings produced by the author cannot help but speak the language of our time, where magic will consist in the evocation of something tangible that will merge with the intangible, with latent thought, with the desire and subconscious of personal history.
Bruno Sain
Info:
Arte Fiera Bologna
6/2 – 8/2/2025
www.artefiera.it
is a contemporary art magazine since 1980
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