On the eve of the inauguration of Arte Fiera, the most long-lived exhibition-market of modern and contemporary art in Italy this year at its 42nd edition, the artistic director Angela Vettese expresses her satisfaction with the growing interaction with the Municipality and the Institutions and for the interest of old and new sponsors, including the Carisbo Foundation (which will allocate a fund of 50 thousand euros to acquire art works that will merge in the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation in Bologna and the MAST Foundation which among the exhibition proposals will select works on the subject of industry and work).

The guidelines of the event set last year by the curator remain unchanged, which pursues a cultural cut based on the quality and enhancement of each individual exhibition project: 152 galleries (against over 300 who were present before) have been invited to reduce the number of artists and to represent them with more works to facilitate the understanding of the public, 10 operators working between publishing and manufacturing in the Printville section and 20 between publishers and institutions. In a context which is overcrowded by kermes almost every week, according to Vettese, rather than organizing small international fairs destined to be a bad imitation of the most important ones, such as Art Basel or Frieze, it is better to show what Italian galleries can do in relation to international artists and in comparison with institutions and museums. For this reason, even in 2018 almost all the stands have been assigned to local galleries, although it is impossible not to notice some important absences in terms of Italian excellence, the quality of the proposals is not lacking. Of particular relevance is the new section Modernity, a segment of the Main Section in which 11 galleries have been invited to present monographic exhibitions of artists deserving a closer look in order to enhance research of different nationalities and generations not yet adequately known and the courage of dealers who have committed themselves in supporting them. They were therefore selected: Joan Jonas (Galleria Alessandra Bonomo), Giosetta Fioroni (Galleria Maurizio Corraini), Gianni Piacentino (Galleria De’ Foscherari), Eugenio Spinoza (Galleria Umberto di Marino), Terry Atkinson (Galleria Six), Marino Marini (Guastalla Centro Arte), Olivo Barbieri (Galleria Guidi & Schoen), Martino Genchi (Galleria Michela Rizzo), Maria Lai (Nuova Galleria Morone), Regina José Galindo (Prometeogallery) and Emilio Isgrò (Studio Guastalla).

To the 106 galleries, including an immaterial one dedicated to performance (Galerie), which make up the Main Section are added 28 Solo Shows, 22 galleries specialized in the Photo section, dedicated to an emblematic medium of the image society, and 4 exhibitors gathered in the Nueva Vista section, curated by Simone Frangi, which propose emerging research on social and political level. The exhibition path is designed in the name of plurality and mixture and for this reason the various sections, marked by an indication on each stand, will be mixed together with the aim of avoiding position hierarchies and watertight compartments and offering visitors a more varied and complete experience. The same logic of osmosis between generations, stylistic lines and trends is at the origin of the project Polis / Artworks, urban emanation of the fair that has proposed 11 galleries to exhibit as many monographic artistic interventions in unconventional places of the city to emphasize how the gallery owners are not only traders but carry out an important task of cultural mediation.

One of the highlights of Angela Vettese is the convention Between exhibition and fair: entre chien et loup (promoted by Arte Fiera and organized by the University IUAV of Venice under the patronage of the Bologna University) which will take place in the Talk Area during the days of the event. The debate, structured in two days of study in which theorists, publishers, curators and artists will participate, focuses on the relationship between two modes of exposure that were previously considered strictly distinct and which in recent years seem to resemble each other more and more. The need for sponsorships from the public sector meets the willingness of commercial operators to culturally frame the artistic products they promote, making the mechanism that gives value to works and artists extremely complex. Contended by “dogs and wolves”, an artist today must know how to untangle between exhibition strategies, media communication and the need to circulate his work, which seems no longer able to disregard the work of an articulated apparatus of actors gravitating around the art system.

As usual, the exhibition program has a rich offshoot in the city, with a myriad of free events designed to bring the public closer to contemporary art, starting from the performance of Vadim Zakharov in the spaces of the former GAM that will stage in premiere for Italy an amusing show that recalls the main Soviet historical and political events between 1904 and 1017. To this prestigious initiative, which dialogues with the exhibition Revolutija at MAMbo about the Russian avant-gardes of the early ‘900 and with the contemporary retrospective It’s OK to Change your Mind at Villa delle Rose curated by Lorenzo Balbi, there are also 10 Art City projects disseminated in institutional locations in Bologna with the cultural mediation of the MAMbo Educational Department (complete program on http://agenda.comune.bologna.it/cultura/artcity ).

Info:

Arte Fiera
Bologna Exhibition Center
2-5 February 2018
INVITATION ONLY PREVIEW
Thursday 1 February: from 12 to 21
TIMETABLES
from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 February: from 11 to 19
Monday 5 February: from 11 am to 5 pm
ENTRANCE
West Constitution
ENTRY TITLES
You can make payments by credit card and / or debit card.
Visitors can also purchase tickets directly at the fair at the following prices:
Cost: 25.00 euros full ticket / print at home 22 euros full ticket
Cost: € 15.00 reduced (groups of at least 15 people with a list) / same amount per print at home
ATTENTION: free for children up to 10 years inclusive, from 11 ENTRY entry.