Time is on our side

Artissima, Italy’s leading contemporary art fair, celebrates its 25th anniversary and returns to the Oval pavilion in Torino from November 1 (preview) to 4, 2018, under the direction of Ilaria Bonacossa.

Time is on our side, the title of the 25th edition, will focus on time approached as a dynamic flow capable of setting the pace of change while leaving the pleasure of the experience of things intact. “Artissima—says Ilaria Bonacossa—has decided to let time frame the fair: fast time, marked by rhythm, innovation and change; but also slow, intimate time, devoted to listening, taste and art. The time of the history of the fair but also the time of Torino, a city suspended between the 1800s and the present, which combines the spirit of a constantly evolving, dynamic metropolis with a human dimension far from frantic transformations. Without forgetting the time for art, the time required to establish a dialogue with the single artworks, to be transformed by them, and the time for listening to sounds, to which we have devoted a new section.”

New Features
The new features of the 2018 edition of Artissima include a new off-site section of the fair in collaboration with OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni of Torino, updated teams of international curators, and a completely revised visual identity.

Time to listen
In recent contemporary art developments sound has become central to new experiments because of its capability of disrupting the logic of visual art. Sound transforms space and its perception, reactivates memories and frees the imagination, becoming a fulcrum of research able of revealing reality outside of its visible aspects.

For this reason, Artissima has decided to create a new section: Sound. Located outside the customary spaces of the Oval, the section will be presented in a space of excellence: OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni of Torino.

Confirming the experimental character of Artissima, and in tune with the crossover research conducted on music, performance and art by OGR, Sound will include 15 projects focusing on contemporary sound selected by an international curatorial team: Yann Chateigné Tytelman, curator and art critic, Berlin, and associate professor of history and theory of art, HEAD, Geneva; and Nicola Ricciardi, artistic director, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Torino.

Time to search
Every year Artissima relies on the collaboration of gallerists, curators, museum directors and art professionals to select and guarantee the high level of the works presented at the fair.

In 2018 the Selection Committee of the Main Section, Dialogue, New Entries and Art Editions & Multiples welcomes a new member Alessandro Pasotti, co-founder of the gallery P420 (Bologna). In addition, the New Entries section dedicated to international young galleries will benefit for the first time from the expertise of independent curator, Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti, director of the International Biennale for Young Art 2018 in Moscow.

Furthermore, the fair has updated the teams for the curated sections Disegni, now at its second edition, dedicated to drawing as a transversal form of expression, Back to the Future, with a focus this year on rediscovering pioneers active between 1980 and 1994, i.e. the 15 years prior to the birth of Artissima, and Present Future, devoted to emerging talents, now open to spontaneous applications.

Team:
Myriam Ben Salah, independent curator and writer, Paris (Present Future committee)
Isabella Bortolozzi, founder of the Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin (Selection committee)
Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti, independent curator and director of the International Biennale for Young Art 2018 of Moscow (New Entries committee)
Juan Canela, independent curator and art critic, Barcelona (Present Future committee)
Paola Capata, founder of Monitor gallery, Rome, Lisbon (Selection committee)
Yann Chateigné Tytelman, curator and art critic, Berlin, associate professor of history and theory of art, HEAD, Geneva (Sound committee)
Guido Costa, founder of Galleria Guido Costa Projects, Torino (Selection committee)
Anna Daneri, independent curator, Genoa/Milan, curator of Museo Villa Croce, Genoa (Back to the Future committee)
Martin McGeown, founder of Cabinet Gallery, London (Selection committee)
João Mourão, co-director of Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (Disegni committee)
Alessandro Pasotti, co-founder of Galleria P420, Bologna (Selection committee)
Cloé Perrone, independent curator, Rome, New York (Present Future committee)
Gregor Podnar, founder of the Gregor Podnar Gallery, Berlin (Selection committee)
Cristiano Raimondi, director for development and international projects, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (Back to the Future committee)
Gabriela Rangel, visual arts director and head curator, Americas Society, New York (Back to the Future committee)
Nicola Ricciardi, artistic director, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Torino (Sound committee)
Pietro Rigolo, archivist for special collections, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles (Back to the Future committee)
Luís Silva, co-director Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (Disegni committee)
Jocelyn Wolff, founder of Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris (Selection committee)

Time to celebrate
To celebrate its 25th edition, Artissima looks back at its history. The new visual identity, titled “Hall of Fame,” pays tribute to this anniversary by making a clean break with the graphic identity of recent years in favour of photographic imagery coordinated by the Torino-based studio FIONDA directed by Roberto Maria Clemente.

Reinterpreting the iconographic repertoire of Artissima, the graphic design retraces its phases with a fresh, ironic image that will be slowly unveiled until November, transforming the anniversary into a playful occasion that instead of celebrating its past achievements opens to the future.

Torino’s time
Torino is a city suspended between the 1800s and the present, able to combine the spirit of a constantly evolving, dynamic metropolis with a human dimension far from the logic of frantic transformations. During the fair the city will host—among others—exhibitions on young talents such as Petrit Halilaj, winner of the Fondazione Ettore Fico Prize at Artissima in 2013 (at Fondazione Merz) and on artists that investigate the boundaries between real and virtual through video and multimedia installations, or through sound, like Hito Steyerl and Cally Spooner, winner of the illy Present Future Prize at Artissima in 2017 (at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea), or Rachel Rose, winner of the same prize in 2014 (at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo).

Artissima 2018 is organised in synergy with the City of Torino, the Piedmont Region and the multiple cultural and art institutions operating in the territory and the city. Besides the established relationships with museums in the region, Artissima has also confirmed its partnerships with local organisations involved in the redefinition of contemporary creativity, such as the Club to Club Festival of Electronic Music, the TGLFF Film Festival, the collaboration with the Salone del Libro, with the RAI Auditorium and with the Museo del Cinema.

Don’t miss your chance to participate in Artissima 2018. Application forms are now available!

For more information, please visit our website. Deadline for applications is May 15.

Artissima is a trademark of the Regione Piemonte, the Città Metropolitana di Torino and the Città di Torino; it reports to Fondazione Torino Musei. The 25th Artissima is produced with the support of the three institutions that hold the trademark, jointly with Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Compagnia di San Paolo and the Camera di commercio di Torino. The organisation of Artissima is entrusted to Artissima srl, the company formed in 2008 to oversee the artistic and commercial relations of the fair. 

Artissima would like to thank UniCredit, main partner of the event since 2003, and all the partners that have confirmed the 7 Prizes for artists and galleries that will be assigned during the fair.