Arte Fiera 2020 | The 44th Edition

Arte Fiera confirms its eagerness to offer new, ambitious, high-quality projects, as demonstrated by some important features of the next edition: in addition to the Main Section there will be three sections by invitation forming the core of the exhibition and focusing on new curators.

Arte Fiera will take place in Bologna from 24 to 26 January 2020 (press preview and vernissage on Thursday, January 23). For the second consecutive year, the artistic director is Simone Menegoi and Arte Fiera will continue its focus on innovation in exhibition design and the quality of its proposals

The Main Section will be flanked by three sections by invitation only. The main new feature of the 2020 edition is Pittura XXI, a brand new feature for art fairs and not only in Italy. For the first time a fair will focus its attention on painting, one of the most debated contemporary art forms, with the aim of providing an overview of the emerging talents and mid-career artists, at a national and international level. The curator of this section is Davide Ferri, independent art critic and curator widely esteemed for his knowledge of the medium. Underlining the substantial interest in this new section is the participation of foreign galleries such as Bernhard Knaus, Frankfurt, and Arcade, London.

Another new feature of Arte Fiera 2020 is Focus, a section that will examine the art from the first half of the 20th century and the Post-War Masters. This section will be handed each year to a different curator. The curator chosen for this debut edition is Laura Cherubini, art historian and critic of great renown, who has chosen to concentrate on renewal and revolutions in Italian painting between the end of the 1950s and the end of the 1970s.

Photography and Moving Images, will return for its second edition. This section is a showcase dedicated to video and photography, the media that, more than any other, shape our daily visual horizon. They will be considered by themselves and in dialogue with other contemporary art languages. This section will be again entrusted to Fantom, the curatorial platform created in 2009 between Milan and New York thanks to Selva Barni, Ilaria Speri, Massimo Torrigiani and Francesco Zanot.

The Main Section will continue its innovative model launched last year and dictated by an emphasis on quality and coherence of the stands, an approach that was received enthusiastically by both galleries and collectors. Again this year the galleries have been invited to present a limited number of artists: up to a maximum of three for the medium-sized stands, and a maximum of six for the larger stands. The only exception to the rule – a new feature for the 2020 edition – is the possibility to include more than six artists in the case of a curatorial project dedicated to a group, movement or artistic current.

Furthermore, as with the 2019 edition, a significant percentage of galleries will be presenting single artists in response to Arte Fiera’s curatorial approach. This substantial presence of monographic stands, which will present in-depth examinations of Italian and foreign artists, new proposals and established masters, has been acknowledged as one of the characteristic traits of Menegoi’s artistic direction.

Arte Fiera is pleased to highlight the return, among its exhibitors, of some important galleries such as Giorgio Persano (Turin), Galleria Fonti (Naples), Galleria d’Arte Maggiore G.A.M. (Bologna), FPAC – Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea (Palermo- Milan), in the Main Section and A arte Invernizzi (Milan), Ex Elettrofonica (Rome), Otto Zoo (Milan), The Gallery Apart (Rome), 1/9unosunove arte contemporanea (Rome) in the special sections.

The galleries participating at Arte Fiera will also be competing for the special awards assigned by our partners with the support of expert juries composed of curators, museum directors, collectors and professionals from the sector. The prizes for the 2020 edition will be announced shortly.

The Arte Fiera bookshop has once again been entrusted to Corraini Edizioni. As an extension of the bookshop area, publishers of art books and magazines from the sector will be present with dedicated stands and a new position at the Fair.

Selection Committee:

• Simone Menegoni, Artistic Director
• Stefano Cortesi, Cortesi Gallery, Lugano
• Massimo Di Carlo, Galleria dello Scudo, Verona
• Giangi Fonti, Galleria Fonti, Naples
• Fabrizio Padovani, Galleria P420, Bologna
• Carlo Repetto, Repetto Gallery, London
• Federica Schiavo, Federica Schiavo Gallery, Milan

The next edition of Arte Fiera will be held at BolognaFiere, in pavilions 18 and 15, which are directly accessible from a single entrance: Nord Entrance. Arte Fiera provides a shuttle service to connect with Piazza Costituzione, Bologna.