Contemporary art meets in Bologna, from 23 to 26 January, for the 39th edition of ArteFiera which will be inaugurated by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, together with the minister of cultural heritage Dario Franceschini and Luigi Gubitosi, director general of Rai, who will dedicate 4 days of live TV to the event.
ArteFiera thus confirms itself as the most important Italian market exhibition, one of the most important in the world. Close to 40 years old, the beautiful event presses the accelerator on the contemporary offering "a summa" of everything available, "something unrepeatable elsewhere in the country", according to the president of the museum institution of the capital Lorenzo Sassoli de' Bianchi.
There are two hundred and twenty exhibitors, including 188 gallery owners (+10% on 2014 and +30% on 2013), 30 of whom come from abroad. Two thousand works available, signed by a thousand artists, including great masters and young promises.
The exhibition itinerary, curated by the directors Giorgio Verzotti and Claudio Spadoni, unfolds into five sections: Main section for the galleries, then Photography, Solo Show, New proposals and Focus Est.
In the pavilions it was decided to give space above all to the excellence of "made in Italy", works by artists who are experiencing a highlight, thanks to the keen attention of the main international museums and New York auctions. They range from Balla to Boccioni, from De Chirico to Morandi, from Capogrossi to Fontana, from Burri to Manzoni and then Castellani, Pistoletto, Boetti, Calzolari, Penone. Giants, to which must be added great artists such as Bonalumi, Gianni Colombo, Dadamaino, Varisco, Alviani and the exponents of seventies abstraction, such as Olivieri. All the works are interesting, not to be missed is a Cellotex by Alberto Burri from 1981, exhibited only very rarely, due to its enormous size.
The program of off initiatives is also extremely rich, culminating in the exhibition “Too early, too late. Middle east and modernity” (January 22-April 12 at the Pinacoteca Nazionale) and which will talk about the relationship between Western and Middle Eastern visual culture. Eighteen students of the Academy of Fine Arts will be the guides of this exhibition.
For the third consecutive year, on the occasion of ArteFiera, the whole city will devote itself to art, transforming itself into an open-air museum and offering a program of special initiatives and enhancement of its most beautiful places. An Art City Bus will take visitors along an itinerary in various stages: Arte Fiera – Museum for the Memory of Ustica – Sferisterio – Art Gallery – Piazza Aldrovandi – Two Towers – Piazza Minghetti – via Farini – via D'Azeglio – MAMbo – MAST – Villa some roses.
Finally, the cultural proposal will put on its evening dress on Saturday 24 January, for the Art White Night, during which museums, galleries and exhibitions will remain open until midnight.
