miart 2022: primo movimento
Press release

miart 2022: primo movimento

 

From the 1st to 3rd of April 2022, miart, Milan’s international modern and contemporary art fair, returns. It will be the first 2022 art fair in Italy and one of the first in Europe.   


With 151 galleries from 20 different countries, the fair's twenty-sixth edition - the second directed by Nicola Ricciardi - amplifies its international scope and consolidates links with Milan and its institutions.


miart 2022 leads the symbolic start of a new phase, the primo movimento of a potential new symphony, in an April full of major events for the art world.

 

Milan, March 4th, 2022 - From April 1st-3rd, 2022 (VIP preview on March 31st) miart, Milan’s international modern and contemporary art fair organised by Fiera Milano, will be back. Now in its twenty-sixth edition and directed for a second time by Nicola Ricciardi, miart is the first art fair held in 2022 in Italy and one of the first in Europe. With 151 galleries from 20 different countries, it remains a fundamental event for both the public and Italian and international collectors in search of great masterpieces of the 20th century as well as from the latest generations of contemporary artists and in signature design.

 

Once again miart 2022 is hosting major Italian galleries while also significantly strengthening its international reach, thanks to the return of a consolidated group of devoted galleries and extraordinary new arrivals. The projects, scrupulously selected by the Committee, aim to compose a coherent and thorough fair, promote dialogue between iconic works and new talent, and celebrate tradition while always looking toward the future. Artists being on display also include some of the protagonists of 59. International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, such as Carla Accardi, Tomaso Binga, Miriam Cahn, Giulia Cenci, Gabriel Chaile, Louise Nevelson, Joanna Piotrowska and Grazia Varisco, to name but a few.

 

In order to present a clearer, more readable allocation of the spaces, the fair’s sections have been reduced to three: Established, the main section hosting galleries exhibiting the most contemporary kind of works alongside those dedicated to twentieth century art, not to mention those active in collectibles and signature design; Decades, curated by Alberto Salvadori, which explores the history of the last century through monographic projects from the 1910s to the 2010s; and Emergent, the section curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini and centred around younger galleries, which will be wellplaced at the exhibition entrance in order to highlight research by the youngest generations of gallery owners and artists.


While miart 2021 aimed to retune its art market instruments after a long break, the primary objective of the twenty-sixth edition is to launch a new phase: the primo movimento of a potential new symphony. This term, borrowed from classical music but endlessly suggestive, not only represents the industry’s desire to pick up the pace and take a leap forward, but is also a reference to the art history and the succession of movements over time that intertwine and influence one another.

The concept of movement also played a central role in developing miart’s new brand identity and original photography campaign, entrusted for the first time to Cabinet Milano, a multidisciplinary studio founded by Rossana Passalacqua and Francesco Valtolina. For the 2022 edition, Cabinet collaborated with German photographer and choreographer Isabelle Wenzel, who photographed herself in a series of actions on the border between performance space and digital environment..


This same concept is therefore at the heart of a series of initiatives and collaborations launched by miart with partners and institutions from the world of music, dance and theatre. These include the new project OutPut, curated by Davide Giannella: an original cycle centred on performance in the public sphere featuring Riccardo Benassi – visual artist based in Berlin - and Michele Rizzo – Italian choreographer based in Amsterdam. This project is made thanks to the crucial support of Fondazione Marcelo Burlon (Wednesday, 30th march). Moreover, FOG Triennale Milano Performing Art - Triennale Milano’s performing arts festival presenting the evocative lectureperformance Dying On Stage by Cypriot Christodoulos Panayiotou (Saturday, 2nd of April) and the long-awaited premiere of Milano, the new work by Romeo Castellucci filmed by Yuri Ancarani (Sunday, 3rd of April).


In addition to these initiatives, there are also many planned in the context of the new edition of the popular Milano Art Week (March 28th-April 3rd) - developed in collaboration with the City of Milan’s Office for Culture - that celebrates the city's main public institutions and private foundations. Launching alongside the fair are all the main exhibitions of the season, including Useless Bodies? by Elmgreen & Dragset at Fondazione Prada, Quando La Paura Mangia L'anima by Artur Zmijewski at PAC - Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Yuli Yamagata at Ordet and Sunshine State by Steve McQueen at Pirelli HangarBicocca. The Archivio Scanavino will open its new exhibition space in Piazza Aspromonte; ArtLine will come alive with works by Mario Airò, Alfredo Jaar and Kiki Smith, and it will also be possible to visit exhibitions across the city that are already open, such as the large group show Tiziano e l’immagine della donna nel Cinquecento veneziano at Palazzo Reale, Anicka Yi Metaspore at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Role Play at Osservatorio - Fondazione Prada, Marcello Maloberti. Martellate at Triennale Milano, Miriam Cahn at Fondazione ICA and Pamela Diamante's Stato di flusso at Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro.

 

The links between Milan and the fair are also strengthened by a photography installation created especially for miart by Giovanna Silva, which brings the city into the trade fair district. Conceived as a natural continuation of City, I listen to your heart, an exhibition intervention created by Silva at the Triennale Milano in 2021, the new project offers a selection of about 500 photographs taken in the city and projected by means of a series of screens inside miart. The most iconic buildings of Lombardy’s capital, captured through the artist's lens, share its lesser known and less conspicuous side. 

 

Another major piece of news is that miart has become a member of the Italian chapter of Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), an international non-profit organisation founded in the United Kingdom to facilitate decarbonisation in the art sector and promote zerowaste practices. As the first fair in Italy to undertake an active role in the initiative, miart - which alongside gallery owners, museum directors, artists and journalists is a founding member of GCC Italia - will dedicate a specific stand to promoting collective and systemic change. The coherence of measures taken is also underlined by Fiera Milano's business plan, which sees sustainability as a tool for creating value, with objectives linked to social and environmental issues that fall under 6 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the United Nations 2030 Agenda. 

 

The collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo continues, which supports miart as main partner: International reach, excellence and a focus on cultural development in local areas are the values that connect miart with the banking group, with the aim of consolidating Milan's central role both nationally and internationally and offering the city further driving force behind growth and economic, cultural and civil development. 

 

miart’s twenty-sixth edition will also see the Fondazione Fiera Milano Acquisition Fund. The fund, restored in 2022 to the amount of €100,000, is targeted at works of art that will implement the Fondazione Fiera Milano collection, currently housed in the Palazzina degli Orafi, the Foundation's headquarters, which is actually composed of more than 100 works representing different artistic languages. 

 

Also confirmed are the Herno Prize, now in its seventh edition, which awards a prize of €10,000 to the stand with the best exhibition project; and the LCA Emergent Prize, worth €4,000, created in 2015 through a collaboration with LCA Legal Firm and targeted at galleries with the best presentation within the fair’s Emergent section.   

 

A new, key award will be added to these thanks to the unprecedented Covivio Acquisition Award, centred on the Emergent section, which will select an artist to commission a site-specific work to with an investment of up to €20,000. The work produced or selected, in line with Covivio's philosophy of promoting talented and emerging artists, will be installed in a property of the business district Symbiosis. 

 

This year the partnership with Maison Ruinart is also renewed, affirming its commitment to the world of art by presenting an original artistic project for this edition within the Ruinart VIP Lounge

 

miart welcomes Svizzera Turismo as a sponsor, which will present its innovative concept Swiss Water Bar at the event. A project in which art, architecture and wellness interact, welcoming guests and enabling them to discover the many facets of Swiss territory. 

 

Moreover, thanks to the renewed partnership with Elle Decor, the miart VIP Lounge will be enhanced with furniture by Saba

 

The partnership with Sky Arte, the television channel dedicated to art in all its forms, is also renewed for this edition. Sky Arte will tell miart through the creation of ad hoc content. 

 

miart 2022 is an invitation to move together - gallery owners, artists, collectors, citizens and visitors - with the awareness that performing a symphony is possible only through collaboration and oneness between baton, forearms, hands, fingers, outlooks, gestures and, last but not least, the public in the hall.