2024: Happy Birthday Arte Fiera!
In 2024, Arte Fiera celebrated its 50th birthday: something that no other Italian art fair had achieved and that only two other fairs in Europe had exceeded. It all began back in 1974, when BolognaFiere decided to present (along with what was then called the Trade Fair) a small section devoted to modern and contemporary art. A brilliant idea and an immediate success. The first edition had only ten galleries; a year later, there were 200.
1974-2024: an important anniversary that Arte Fiera celebrated not only by looking back, but also by thinking about its future.
On the one hand, the fair celebrated its origins: the Public Program reconsidered the personalities and events linked to its early editions and, in general, to Bologna’s cultural climate in the ’70s, when the city was at the cutting edge in visual art as well as in architecture and design. On the other, in addition to offering the finest modern and contemporary Italian art, Arte Fiera pointed out new trends, once again presenting foreign galleries, the latest in performance art, and asking contemporary artists to create new works.
A new path and prestigious collaborations
Arte Fiera 2024 (2-4 February, with preview by invitation on the 1st) picked up the thread of the fortunate 2023 edition, hailed by the press as a rebirth, welcomed by collectors, attended by visitors in pre-pandemic numbers. The location, the same as in the previous edition (Halls 25 and 26, two of the Bologna Fair District’s most elegant spaces), and 2023’s winning collaborations (starting with the one between Simone Menegoi as Artistic Director and Enea Righi, renowned manager and collector, as Managing Director) have been confirmed. Together, Menegoi and Righi merged an ambitious curatorial program with careful attention to all organizational aspects, including display design, visitor reception and catering.
Arte Fiera also renewed its important partnership with ANGAMC, Associazione Nazionale Gallerie d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, with which it has created a permanent committee. Likewise, Arte Fiera has confirmed its large investments in communication, curated (with regard to coordinated image) by the Milanese agency LeftLoft, and in the welcoming of Italian and foreign collectors.
Main Partner
Arte Fiera was proud to announce that BPER Banca has strengthened its commitment to the event and has become the Main Partner of Arte Fiera 2024. With this important step, the primary fair for art and Italian galleries linked up to a national bank with strong ties in its home territory: a bank that actively promotes and supports art and culture, convinced that they are essential for both local development and social inclusion.
Sections and curators
The Main Section of Arte Fiera, divided as always into post-war and contemporary art, will again be accompanied by three curated, invitation-only sections: Photography and moving images, Pittura XXI, and Multiples, presenting works published in edition, ranging from artist books to design.
Pittura XXI was again be curated by Davide Ferri, critic and independent curator, while Photography and moving images was entrusted for the second time to Gian Gavino Pazzola, curator of di Camera - Centro italiano per la fotografia (Turin). Multiples had a new curator: critic and art historian Alberto Salvadori.
In addition to the curated sections, there was again Percorso: not really a section, but, as the name implies, an itinerary that thematically links some of the stands in the Main Section. This year, Percorso’s theme was a universal language that unites artists of different generations and styles: design.
Arte Fiera 2024: the past, present, and future of a unique fair.