MIA Photo Fair, scheduled from 10 to 13 March 2017 at The Mall, in the Porta Nuova district in Milan, reconfirms its international vocation and desire to offer a high quality cultural programme.
After the success of the 2016 edition, which saw over 24.000 visitors, MIA Photo Fair again this year presents its consolidated format: on the one hand, the galleries, which are left with the possibility of proposing group exhibitions or monographic projects; on the other, Proposta MIA, a selection of photographers who exhibit their work individually.
130 exhibitors, including 80 participating galleries, from 13 countries, to which will be added Proposta MIA and an area dedicated to publishing.
There are many novelties of the VII edition of MIA Photo Fair. For the first time, three thematic projects linked to as many geographical areas will be brought to the attention of the public: Focus Brazil, curated by Denise Gadelha, Focus Asturias, curated by Monica Alvarez Careaga, and Focus Hungary curated by Art Photo Budapest.
A particular interest will also be reserved for performance, with the participation of Flux Laboratory, a multidisciplinary experimental space based in Geneva, Zurich and Athens, which encourages creative and performative work through encounters with the world of dance, art, philosophy, music and technology, and with ArtOnTime, an itinerant curatorial project, promoted by Artraising and supported by the Swiss watchmaker Eberhard & Co. The project aims to finance and launch artists into performance art through crowdfunding. The scientific committee for the selection of the artists of the project is composed of Monique Veaute (President of the RomaEuropa Foundation), Fabio Castelli, Giorgio Fasol (Collector and President of the Ass. AGI Verona), Riccardo Lisi (curator, director of the La Rada space, Lugano ) and Antonio Grulli (Critic and curator).
Lavazza is once again reconfirmed as a partner of MIA Photo Fair: for the seventh edition, the Caffè Artistico will speak through the images of the 2017 Lavazza Calendar "We Are What We Live", made up of 12 pairs of side-by-side photographs. Half man and half environment, on one side there is the face of a man or woman stripped naked, portrayed in their essence and naturalness. On the other hand there is a place, a landscape, which represents the environment they live in and the nature they work with. In the shots by the French photographer Denis Rouvre it is as if the two halves – man and the environment – overlap and shape each other: every portrait is also a landscape and every landscape ends up being a portrait.
MIA Photo Fair, with the patronage of the Lombardy Region, the Metropolitan City of Milan, the Municipality of Milan, the Consulate General of Brazil in Milan and the Principality of Asturias, can count on the contribution of the main sponsors BNL Group BNP Paribas and Lavazza and on support from Eberhard & Co. This year's partners include Cantine Ferrari, Ciaccio Arte, iQOS, Kartell and Nexive.
BNL Group BNP Paribas AWARD – The relationship between MIA Photo Fair and BNL Group BNP Paribas, main sponsor of the event, is renewed for the sixth consecutive year. Also for 2017 the BNL Group BNP Paribas Award is being promoted, assigned by a qualified jury to photographers who take part in the fair by exhibiting with their own reference galleries. The finalist works will be published on @bnl_cultura, the BNL Instagram account dedicated to art and photography. The winning work will become part of the Bank's artistic heritage, which currently has over 5.000 works.
Codice MIA – The project, conceived and curated by Enrica Viganò, is part of the MIA Photo Fair program as a reference event for mid-career artists who intend to deal directly with collecting experts at an international level. Following a rigorous selection, 45 photographers acquire the privilege of meeting face to face with collectors, art advisors and curators of corporate and institutional collections from all over the world. The meetings take the typical form of a portfolio reading.
This year's novelty is the establishment of the Charles Jing Award – collector from Atlanta, USA – for the best portfolio, which is added to the CODICE MIA Award. The winner will receive a prize of 7.000 euros, as well as the free concession of a stand at the 2018 edition of MIA Photo Fair in Milan. The runner-up will instead be awarded a prize of 3.000 euros.
Massimo Gatti AWARD – The Massimo Gatti Award is now in its second edition, dedicated to the memory of the photographer and organized in collaboration with the Glauco Cavaciuti Gallery. Among the artists participating in the MIA Proposal section, a winner will be selected who will be offered a cash prize and the possibility of setting up a personal exhibition in the spaces of the Cavaciuti Gallery itself.
RaM Sarteano AWARD – From the collaboration between MIA Photo Fair and the Municipality of Sarteano (SI), the Sarteano Prize was born, which provides for the choice of two artists who will be invited to exhibit in an exhibition (15 July - 30 September 2017) inside of the Rocca Manenti. The selection committee of the Prize will be made up of Fabio Castelli, director of MIA Photo Fair, Francesco Landi, mayor of the Municipality of Sarteano, the photographer Enzo Ragazzini and the curators Roberto Mutti, Gigliola Foschi and Enrica Viganò.
Pleasures of Italy AWARD – Pleasures of Italy, on the occasion of the MIA Photo Fair 2017 wishes to demonstrate its support in favor of the activity of emerging artists with the first edition of the Award. The competition, jointly organized with MIA Photo Fair and dedicated to photography and video, aims to be an opportunity to promote one's commitment to the development of culture and research into contemporary art in Italy.
CULTURAL PROGRAM – The appointment with MIA Photo Fair is enriched by a packed program of talks, meetings and debates.
SPECIAL PROJECTS – Kartell renews its collaboration with MIA Photo Fair by taking care of a special set-up project. The lounge area of the fair will in fact be furnished with some pieces from the Karell goes Sottsass collection and with seats and tables designed by Philippe Starck. The brand will display, framed in the François Ghost mirrors by Philippe Starck, a series of images by great photographers – from Peter Lindbergh to Bruce Weber, from Fabrizio Ferri to Tim Walker and David LaChapelle – taken from the book Kartell: 150 items, 150 Artworks , published by Skira.
The Talk Area hosts an exhibition that pays homage to the world of photography collectors. The exhibition presents a series of works by authors such as Julian Opie, Cindy Sherman, Olivo Barbieri, Thomas Struth, Nan Goldin, Carlo Mollino, Shirin Neshat and others, all from private Italian collections.
The graphic image of the event, curated for the second year in its planning and artistic direction by Tanja Solci, is renewed with a new concept and new colours.
Image: Gian Paolo Barbieri, Lynne Koester “Vogue Italia”, 1990, analogue photo on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper 325 gr, 72 x 90 cm. Courtesy 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS gallery
