The thirtieth edition of miart moves to the new South Wing of Allianz MiCo, and will take place from April 17th to 19th, 2026, under the direction of Nicola Ricciardi. With 160 galleries from 24 countries, the fair will unfold across three floors, featuring important returning galleries and significant new entries from international galleries. New Directions, the title of this edition is a clear homage to the famous 1963 album by American musician John Coltrane (1926-1967). We therefore hope that this premise is a good omen and that we will be able to find those new directions that can respond to the complex times we are living in.
Chiara Camoni, “Colonna (degli Scarti)”, 2025, terracotta and miscellaneous beach find, 179 x 47 x 50 cm. Courtesy Andrew Kreps Gallery; Roberto de Pinto, “Dalla testa ai piedi”, 2025, encaustic, pastels, charcoal and oil on canvas, 250 x 135 cm. Ph. Agostino Osio, courtesy the artist and Francesca Minini
Now let’s describe a hypothetical journey. In the Established section, Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York) will present Colonna (degli scarti) 2025, a work made of terracotta and various objects found on the beach, by Chiara Camoni, the artist who will represent Italy at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Ai Weiwei will be represented by Galleria Continua (San Gimignano and in various cities around the world) with Girl with Pearl (2022), a work made of toy bricks. A magnificent tondo measuring one and a half meters in diameter by Emilio Vedova, Untitled (1987), an acrylic on canvas, will be exhibited by Galleria dello Scudo (Verona). Francesca Minini (Milan) will present Roberto di Pinto’s Dalla testa ai piedi (2025), an encaustic, pastel, charcoal, and oil on canvas, which we saw at the Quadriennale in Rome in the section curated by Luca Massimo Barbero.
Claire Fontaine, “Margherita”, 2025, polyvinyl chloride, transparent resin, paint, wood, and horseshoe nails, 68 x 39 x 6 cm – 1/3 + 2 A.P. Ph. Fausto Brigantino, courtesy Francesco Pantaleone Palermo; Ai Weiwei, “Girl with Pearl”, 2022, toy bricks, 38 x 38 cm, ed. 10. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua
Then we have the metasection Established Anthology, which will feature exhibition projects united by the aim of narrating the complexity, trajectories, and transformations of time – such as cyclicality and metamorphosis, oblivion and memory, the expectation and imagination of the future – playing with temporal leaps, stratifications, and chronology inversions, and interrogating possible futures, whether real or dystopian. Here we find Lucia Marcucci’s Conservo il mio posto (1972), an emulsion-coated canvas, presented by Frittelli arte contemporanea. A sacrilegious image that combines image and text, almost as if we were faced with a cartoon with a joke. Finally, the Emergent section, with twenty-six projects promoting the most recent generations, is curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini.
Lucia Marcucci, “Conservo il mio posto”, 1972, emulsioned canvas, 118 x 72 cm. Courtesy Frittelli arte contemporanea; Michael MacGarry, “Parcosm”, 2024, reclaimed packaging material, cotton and archival tape, 212 x 122 cm. Courtesy Crome Yellow M & C
Numerous galleries are choosing the Milanese event for the first time, confirming miart’s role as a reference platform for the most contemporary artistic movements. Among these Amanita (New York / Rome), Commune (Wien), Crome Yellow M & C (Johannesburg), Ehrlich Steinberg (Los Angeles), Alice Folker Gallery (Copenhagen), Gaa (New York / Cologne), Merkur (Istanbul), Satine (Venice) South Parade (London), TBA (Warsaw).
Frederik Næblerød, “Identity I”, 2025, glazed stoneware, 52 x 22 x 33 cm. Ph. Alice Folker Gallery, courtesy Alice Folker Gallery
At Alice Folker Gallery, we’ll find Identity 1 (2025) by Frederik Næblerød, a Danish artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, ceramics, bronze, drawing, and installation. Ironic and grotesque aspects are found in Michael MacGarry’s Parcosm (2024), which represents a bird-infested skeleton using recycled packaging material, cotton, and archival tape. The proposal comes from the Crome Yellow M & C. No less so is Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi, a creative director and independent set designer based in Milan who has worked in design, publishing, and as an illustrator. The 2022 work, Untitled, that she will present at the Satine stand is a hand-crafted borosilicate: a cross between a design object and a charming little character surrounded by his dreams.
Carmen Schabracq, “Migrating Roots III”, 2025, appliqué, cotton, wool, silk embroidery yarn, human hair, steel and rope, 150 x 240 x 40 cm. Courtesy Galerie Fleur & Wouter and RED LAB Gallery
Let’s now recall, in no particular order, some of the other galleries participating in this edition: A arte Invernizzi (Milan), Alessandro Albanese (Milan/Matera), Atipografia (Arzignano/Milan), Barbati (Venice), Sadie Coles HQ (London), Gaep (Bucharest), Primo Marella (Milan/Lugano); Massimodecarlo (Milan/London/Hong Kong/Paris), Zero… (Milan). Miart 2026 will also present a special project dedicated to the moving image: Movements. This project is the result of a collaboration with the St. Moritz Art Film Festival and the intersection of the theme of the fifth edition of If Music and miart’s curatorial approach. The program, curated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera, artistic director of SMAFF, will present films made exclusively by artists represented by the galleries participating in the fair, initiating a direct dialogue between the exhibitors and the experimental cinema research promoted by the festival.
Monia Ben Hamouda, “Monument to Vulnerability IV (Stoning of the Devil)”, 2024, neon, aluminum, spices 200 x 145 cm. Installation view from “Exposure – Art, culture, fashion in and out of the showcase” (MUDEC, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2024). Courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde, Berlin; Emilio Tadini, “Black Time n.1”, 1969, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy Gió Marconi
In support of miart, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group will participate as the main partner. The Bank will contribute to the 2026 edition with a project curated by Nicola Ricciardi, dedicated to showcasing masterpieces from the Luigi and Peppino Agrati Collection, a prestigious contemporary art collection now part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s artistic heritage, in the Group’s lounge area.
Info:
miart
17 – 19/04/2026
opening: 16/04/2026
Allianz MICo, Milano
www.miart.it
Emanuele Magri teaches History of Art in Milan. Since 2007 he has been writing abroad for Juliet art Magazine. Since the 1970s he has dealt with writing and visual arts. He created taxonomically defined worlds, in which he experimented with the self-referentiality of language, such as “La Setta delle S’arte” in which ritual clothes are made starting from words with multiple meanings, the “Treaty of genetic art” in which a series of plants is obtained from grafts of human organs, eyes, hands, mouths, etc., and the project “Fandonia”, a city where everything is double and hybrid.
NO COMMENT