miart

From September 17 to 19, 2021, (VIP preview: September 16) miart—the international modern and contemporary art fair organised by Fiera Milano—will make a long-awaited comeback. Now in its 25th edition, it will be directed for the first time by Nicola Ricciardi.

145 galleries from 21 countries (traditionally split into five sections: Established Contemporary, Established Masters, Emergent, Decades, and Generations) will present in the pavilions of fieramilanocity_MiCo—and at the same time on a dedicated digital platform—artworks by established contemporary artists, modern masters, and emerging young talents. With a path full of dialogues, discoveries, and rediscoveries from the early twentieth century to the creations of the latest generations, miart maintains its wide chronological offer and confirms its international nature.

This year, miart pays special attention to the poetic word, starting with the title chosen for its 2021 edition: Dismantling the silence, from the namesake collection of poems by Charles Simić, 50 years after its publication. This theme has then been explored through a series of initiatives designed to trigger new dialogues between history and experimentation and to promote the blossoming of new forms of communication among the subjects that have always animated the fair. One of these initiatives is Starry Worlds, a project inspired by the poem For Memory (1981), by Adrienne Rich, and in particular by the verses:

freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine
remembering. Putting together, inch by inch
the starry worlds. From all the lost collections.

Driven by a similar desire of “putting together, inch by inch, the starry worlds,” miart connected various city’s institutions by asking the artists involved in their September exhibitions to share verses, quotes and fragments of poetry that have been significant or influential for their work. These bits will then be collected to form a very peculiar anthology that will also be a poetic map to the city of Milan.

Many of the city’s main cultural sites have already been invited to participate, including: Chiostri di Sant’Eustorgio with Alessandro Pessoli, Fondazione Furla and GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna with Nairy Baghramian, Fondazione ICA with Simone Fattal and Michael Anastassiades, Fondazione Pini with Elisabetta Benassi, Fondazione Pirelli HangarBicocca with Neïl Beloufa and Maurizio Cattelan, Fondazione Pomodoro with Nevine Mahmoud, Margherita Raso and Derek MF Di Fabio, Fondazione Prada with Simon Fujiwara, PAC - Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea with Luisa Lambri and Zehra Doğan, and Triennale Milano with Corrado Levi and Elena Rivoltini.

Starry Worlds anticipates and enhances the Milano Art Week (September 13–19), a rich calendar of exhibition openings and special projects promoted in collaboration with Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Milano which traditionally brings together the city’s major public institutions and private foundations.

Moreover, the collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo—which supports miart as its main partner—is renewed. Also confirmed are the Fondazione Fiera Milano Acquisition Fund—that aims at expanding the collection of Fondazione Fiera Milano—and all the main prizes, including: the Herno Prize, born from the collaboration between miart and Herno, that will award the booth with the best exhibition project; the LCA Prize for Emergent, established as part of the collaboration between miart and LCA Studio Legale, and meant to award the gallery with the best presentation within the Emergent section; and the Rotary Club Milano Brera Prize for Contemporary Art and Young Artists, aimed at purchasing an artwork by an emerging or mid-career artist to be donated to the Museo del Novecento in Milan. 

Lastly, the partnership with the Maison Ruinart is also renewed, and will bring a selection of works by the artist David Shrigley inside the renovated VIP Lounge of the fair.