Milan, 11 September 2020 - Nicola Ricciardi is miart's new Artistic Director for 2021- 2023.

Born in 1985, Ricciardi is a curator and contemporary art critic with an international background. He leaves the post of Artistic Director of OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni di Torino - to succeed Alessandro Rabottini, who is leaving miart after four years of work at the head of the international modern and contemporary art fair organised by Fiera Milano.

The choice made by Fiera Milano reveals a desire to continue along the path traced by the miart team since 2013, first under the artistic direction of Vincenzo de Bellis (2013 - 2016) and then with Alessandro Rabottini (2017 - 2020). 

“I am embracing this new challenge with enthusiasm”, says Nicola Ricciardi, “and hope to spend the next three years consolidating miart as a point of reference for Italian and international galleries, artists and collectors. Whilst guaranteeing solidity and continuity in relation to the path mapped out before me, with intelligence and foresight, by Vincenzo de Bellis and Alessandro Rabottini, I also intend to ensure that miart adheres to the boundaries of a world that has undergone inevitable change. I am honoured and grateful to Fiera Milano for giving me this opportunity and trusting me, and I will be forever grateful and indebted to OGR Torino for having shaped me professionally and personally over the past four years. I would particularly like to thank the management, my colleagues and my many travelling companions who, from 2016 to the present day, have shared with me the dream of building from scratch a cultural institution that is now internationally acknowledged and appreciated.". 

“There are so many people and institutions that I would like to thank”, says Alessandro Rabottini, “for the wonderful personal and professional opportunity offered to me over the past four years, starting with Fiera Milano and the entire miart team, whose expertise, creativity and friendship have been a constant source of nourishment. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all those who have believed in this project and who have helped to expand the international statute of the Milan art fair and of the city itself: the galleries, artists, collectors, partners and sponsors, members of the Selection Committees and Honorary Board, guest curators, members of the juries responsible for assigning awards and speakers at all the various talks. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and for the quality that you have brought to miart over the years. I am honoured to have made my contribution to Milan and its cultural landscape, and would like to thank the City of Milan, the Municipal Department of Culture and all the public and private institutions, cultural bodies and non-profit spaces which, year after year, have contributed to an event of such international scope as Milano Art Week. Thank you for having allowed me to be part of this intense exchange. And thank you to Fondazione Fiera Milano for having consistently and generously supported the work of the artists and galleries that have chosen miart as their stage. Lastly, I wish Nicola Ricciardi all the best and every success for the future with both miart and Milan”.

Nicola Ricciardi takes office from October, when he will start working immediately on the preparation of the twenty-fifth edition of miart, scheduled to take place from the 17 to the 19 of September 2021.

Nicola Ricciardi

Nicola Ricciardi (1985) is a curator and contemporary art critic. He was Artistic Director of OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni di Torino - from 2016 to 2020, helping build the cultural institution's identity and positioning it as one of Europe's leading centres for the production and promotion of visual and performing arts. Under his leadership, OGR organised solo shows by Tino Sehgal, Susan Hiller, Mike Nelson, Pablo Bronstein and Monica Bonvicini, among others, as well as major group shows such as Come una falena alla fiamma, in collaboration with Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Cuore di Tenebra, in collaboration with Castello di Rivoli, and La Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement. The Sound of Screens Imploding, in collaboration with Centre d’Art Contemporain de Genève. Ricciardi has also worked on unprecedented performances and concerts in Italy, contributing to projects such as The Catalogue by Kraftwerk and ∑(No,12k,Lg,18Ogr) by New Order + Liam Gillick. Before working with OGR, he curated the shows of numerous Italian (Diego Perrone, Alessandro Pessoli, Patrick Tuttofuoco) and international (Mark Horowitz, Kour Pour, Frank Hulsbomer) artists. He was Vincenzo de Bellis’ assistant curator for Ennesima. An Exhibition of Seven Exhibitions on Italian Art (Triennale di Milano, 2015) and worked with Massimiliano Gioni and the curatorial team of the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2013), as well as participating in the 7th Berlin Biennale (2012) with a collective project. He has also contributed to important international publications in the art world, including Frieze, Mousse Magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. After studying at Università Cattolica in Milan, Ricciardi graduated with a master's degree in curatorial studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York, with a thesis on Matthew Barney.