46th Arte Fiera returns to Bologna from 3 to 5 February, and resumes its historic location. In other words, pavilions 25 and 26, within walking distance from Piazza Constitution, the main view of the exhibition center on the city.
This will be the 46th edition of the event and the fourth under the artistic direction of Simone Menegoi. An edition that presents itself with a strong spirit of renewal, starting with the choice – unprecedented for a fair, not only in Italy – to involve a collector like Enea Righi in the role of managing director.
The next fair also establishes the relaunch of the dialogue with the National Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries, a partner with which it has created a permanent discussion table.
The renewal process of the 46th Arte Fiera, launched in view of the 2023 edition and destined to consolidate in the years to come, sees substantial changes on several fronts: the public program, the setting up of the common areas, the reception of the public.
News and reconfirmations of the 46th edition
It starts with Opus novum, a commission for an unpublished work to be presented in the spaces of the fair, intended for an established Italian artist and which in 2023 will go to Alberto Garutti. In addition to the value of the artist, the choice intends to celebrate his bond with Bologna, the city where Garutti, at the beginning of the nineties, held the chair of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. Performance is an expressive field closely linked to Bologna and at Arte Fiera, which since 2019 has made live actions a fundamental point of its program of events.
Another novelty of the 46th Arte Fiera https://www.artefiera.it concerns the fruit of a collaboration between the fair and the Furla Foundation, with the curatorship of Bruna Roccasalva, artistic director of the Foundation. The choice is to focus on a single but ambitious intervention, presented for the first time in Italy, which combines installation, performance and choreography: a live creation by Public Movement, an artistic collective originally from Israel.
At the entrance to Piazza Costituzione, a giant screen will also host the first Led Wall Commission: artist videos specifically conceived for the billboard format and for the viewing of those who are crossing the threshold of the neighbourhood. Led Wall Commission#1 will be dedicated to Yuri Ancarani, an established video maker in the visual arts and in the world of cinema. In the same days Ancarani will also be the protagonist of a personal exhibition at the MAMbo – Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.
The Book Talk cycle of conversations returns to the 46th Arte Fiera, centered on art books, which presents the public with some of the most interesting recently published Italian titles. For the next edition, the program is entrusted to Guendalina Piselli, assistant to the Artistic Direction of Arte Fiera and former co-director of Fruit Exhibition – Independent Art Book Fair.
The fair also relaunches its partnership with Art City, the Bolognese Art Week circuit.