January 27–30, 2017
Preview by invitation: Thursday January 26, 12–9pm
Bologna Fairground
Viale della Fiera, 20
40127 Bologna
Italy
www.artefiera.it
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / #artefiera
Directed by Angela Vettese, an updated edition:
Main Section, Solo Show, Nueva Vista, Special Projects and a Photography section
Arte Fiera, in its 41st edition, is set for an updated edition under the new direction of Angela Vettese. From January 27 to 30, 2017, the longest running event for modern and contemporary Italian art will be bringing a number of new developments to the pavilions of BolognaFiere.
A new graphic style that highlights what has always distinguished the fair’s approach to art: on the one hand the relationship to nature in its many forms, on the other hand the acknowledgement of the human capacity to define it while accepting, with mental flexibility, its more perturbing aspects.
The exhibiting galleries’ displays develop across the two large pavilions of the Bologna Exhibition centre. There is a Main Section and a series of Solo Shows, both chosen by the artistic director and a special selection committee. Overall the two sections will involve 153 galleries, to which can be added those curatorial galleries with a small section of new proposals curated by Simone Frangi, entitled Nueva Vista and dedicated to artists considered worthy of a new critical reinterpretation, not only young artists. Nueva Vista is designed, in fact, in order to shed light within a commercial context on the balancing point between discourse and saleability of emerging artistic research, between a critical process and formalization, between planning commitment in social and political spheres and sustainability. The section Special Projects, conceived and curated by Chiara Vecchiarelli, will bring performance to the Fair, the MAMbo Museum, the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio and the city’s science museums with a series of Artist Lectures — performative artworks in the form of lectures, but also lessons and guided tours — articulated in Time Specific Artist Lectures, that will explore the relationship between the contemporary and the history of art by inhabiting a temporal dialogue between artworks, and Site Specific Artist Lectures, in which the dialogue will play between the artists and the collections of the museums, with their modes of framing and unframing knowledge. A photography section is curated by Angela Vettese. Arte Fiera 2017 is undertaking an experiment that sheds light on the independent world of photography and art in an attempt not to trace a borderline between the disciplines but rather to find a shared space between the two. The experiment aims to propose, within a consolidated art fair, a moment dedicated to production and discussion for experts from the sector, authors and students.
In order to transform this position into a visible product with which the public can interact, Arte Fiera has organized four particular situations: GENDA exhibition – The Body As Packaging, an independent publishing and curatorial project that collects contributions from Chinese and Western artists in order to produce and verify the existence of a reciprocal dialogue; also welcoming visitors at the entrance will be Printville, the bookshop curated by A+Mbookstore with Humboldt Books that intends to show the very latest contemporary Italian and foreign productions in the world of art and photography: an innovative space presenting rare books to consult and leftovers from the König bookshop in Cologne alongside a more ordinary selection of books and art catalogues; Talks, a series of encounters with authors, curators, editors, gallery owners and collectors to discuss the question of the contemporary project, and how collaboration, translations and the many languages of independent production have found space within the institutions and the market.
This year will also see the return of the Arte Fiera Prizes: Euromobil Prize Under 30, Videoinsight Foundation Prize, Rotary Valle del Samoggia Prize.
Alongside the exhibition at Arte Fiera 2017, from Friday to Sunday, January 27 to 29, the city will take centre stage for the fifth edition of Art City Bologna, the programme of exhibitions, events and cultural initiatives born from the collaboration between the Bologna Council and BolognaFiere. In 2017 Art City Bologna will enhance its formula with a new section of Art City entitled Polis, coordinated by the Bologna Museums Institution, supported and promoted by Arte Fiera with the aim of promoting reviews and interventions by contemporary artists specifically conceived as part of a dialogue with the particular characteristics of the exhibitions spaces and historic locations in which they are located. Among the planned initiatives are the Genda Photographic Exhibition in collaboration with the Masters’ course in Photography at the IUAV University of Venice; at the Civic Archaeological Museum – Bologna Museums Institution, the screening of the film that revisits the national identity, Viva l’Italia curated by Mark Nash; the programme of Artist Lectures curated by Chiara Vecchiarelli, that will take place in the city’s science museums, at the MAMbo Museum, at the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio and at the Fair; the programme of the video documentaries Corpo Sensibile (Sensitive Body) by young Italian artists curated by Marco Bertozzi. Saturday, January 28 sees the return of Art City White Night, the all-night art event with hundreds of initiatives and thousands of visitors to the city for a night dedicated to unique Italian art. The programme of the fair is available at www.artefiera.it.
