Arte Fiera 48: Scena Italia
7-9 February 2025
After celebrating a half-century of activity with a memorable 2024 edition, marked by the return of some of the best Italian galleries and by the presence of many important collectors, Arte Fiera expands with a new section for up-and-coming artists and galleries, a special hospitality program for foreign curators and critics, and a new, lively, pop graphic identity. No basking in past glory, but a desire to widen our horizons and embrace new territories.
The Italian art scene is rich, complex, multi-layered. We think of it as a multi-colored fabric where you can zoom in and discover new motifs and new details every time. Artists and galleries, collectors and critics, public and private institutions, teachers and publishers; the 20th century and contemporary research, established names side by side with emerging or recently re-discovered artists. Arte Fiera has always been the best place to explore this scene, and our plan for the future - to present it even better and in more detail, with greater focus on emerging trends – is addressed not only to the Italian public (which knows and loves this fair), but to the international public as well.
These bases have generated two initiatives. The first is Prospettiva, an invitation-only section devoted to up-and-coming artists, added to the other sections in order to further expand the fair’s focus on emerging creativity. The second is a special hospitality program for international museum directors and curators to broaden the promotion of Arte Fiera beyond Italy, an aspect that has received special attention in recent years.
Arte Fiera 2025’s graphic identity (curated for the third year by LeftLoft), expresses this gaze toward the future. The iconic red circle remains the centerpiece, but now gains thickness, becomes 3-dimensional, and rotates in the air, while the palette (which in the previous two editions used only the red, white and black of the corporate graphics), is now enriched with unexpected pop colors, giving immediate emphasis to our desire to explore new territories and epitomize the contradictory and fascinating world of Italian art.
Governance and venue
For the third year, the governance of Arte Fiera is entrusted to Simone Menegoi as Artistic Director and to Enea Righi as Managing Director. A critic and curator with over 25 years of experience working with a manager who is also one of Italy’s most important collectors of contemporary art: this unique collaboration created the 2023 and 2024 editions, which were unanimously declared the finest in recent years. These results also derived from the decision to return the fair to its traditional halls (25 and 26), among the most elegant in the Bologna Fair District, and from a large investment in communication, services, and in collector accommodation.
Main Partner
Arte Fiera is happy to announce that BPER Banca, the Main Partner of Arte Fiera’s 2024 edition, has reconfirmed its commitment to the event for the next three years. This strengthens the bond between two organizations which, in their respective fields, have become key players in Italy and abroad. By choosing to support Arte Fiera, BPER confirms it commitment to 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, is now accompa-nied by four curated, invitation-only sections: Photography and moving images, Pittura XXI, and Mul-tiples, presenting works published in edition, plus the new section Prospettiva, devoted to emerging art-ists, represented by new or established galleries that have a research program.
Davide Ferri, critic and independent curator specializing in contemporary painting, has curated Pittura XXI since its first edition, while Photography and moving images is entrusted for the third year to Giangavino Pazzola, curator of di Camera - Centro italiano per la fotografia (Turin). Multiples will be curated for the second year by critic and art historian Alberto Salvadori, while Prospettiva will be curated by Michele D’Aurizio, curator and art historian working in Italy and in the United States.
In addition to the curated sections, there will again be Percorso: not really a section, but, as the name implies, an itinerary that thematically links some of the stands in the Main Section and in the curated sections. After two years devoted to artistic forms (Ceramics in 2023 and Drawing in 2024), Percorso 2025 will also concern the content of the works: in fact, the new theme is “Community.”
Flash Art Italia Award
Arte Fiera is pleased to host the first edition of Flash Art Italia Award, which considers Italy’s entire art ecosystem with the goal of becoming the country’s most prestigious award in the field of contemporary art. The Award will give full value to artists, gallerists, museum directors, foundations, and independent spaces, as well as to territories, businesses, and relations between art and fashion, all with an innovative and unified viewpoint. With no less than 14 categories - from "Best Artist" to "Innovation and Sustainability in Art" - and a jury made up of personalities from the world of art and culture of undisputed competence, the Award ceremony will take place in Bologna on 7 February, confirming Arte Fiera as a reference point on the Italian art scene.