ARTE FIERA ART FIRST will celebrate its 33rd edition

Bill Viola, Transfiguration, 2007, James Cohan Gallery, New York / © Bill Viola / foto Kira Perov

The 33rd edition of Arte Fiera Art First, Italy’s foremost exhibition of modern and contemporary art, will be held in Bologna from 23 to 26 January 2009.  

Arte Fiera Art First is a unique showcase for international art, presenting confirmed market trends, an advance look at new artistic movements, and extraordinary works of art selected by a Committee of international experts.

From masterpieces by the Italian avant-garde artists such as Giorgio Morandi, Fausto Melotti, Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana, to works by internationally famous artists; Pop Art by Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Keith Haring; Conceptual Art by Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani; Surrealism by Max Ernst and Joan Mirò; the female vision of Carla Accardi and Marina Abramovic; “Arte Povera” by Giovanni Anselmo, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gilberto Zorio, plus contemporary artists such as Darren Almond, Stephan Balkenhol, Massimo Bartolini, Vanessa Beecroft, Emily Jacir, winner of Hugo Boss Prize 2008, Anish Kapoor, Thomas Hirschhorn, Kiki Smith and Bill Viola.

In a new, museum-style format on a single level (with the addition of the new Hall 15) to improve the quality of the spaces, Arte Fiera hosts - alongside renowned international galleries such as Jérôme de Noirmont, Lelong (Paris), Diana Lowenstein (Miami), Thaddeus Ropac (Paris), Sperone Westwater (New York), Continua (San Gimignano), Massimo De Carlo, Giò Marconi and Christian Stein (Milan), Massimo Minini (Brescia) - a selection of young galleries (in operation not more than 5 years) chosen for the freshness and quality of the artists they present, such as 1/9 unosunove and Monitor (Rome), Riccardo Crespi  (Milan), Davide Gallo (Berlin), Patrick Heide (London), Lange&Pult (Zürich), and Francesco Pantaleone (Palermo).

Arte Fiera’s attention to market trends and collecting is emphasised by its programme of innovative conferences held during the four days of the event and devoted to various aspects and trends in art collecting in all of its many public and private forms, with the participation of collectors and representatives of major Italian and international institutions. Subjects include: private collecting, collecting by private foundations, collecting by banks - in cooperation with Gruppo 24 Ore - and collecting by public museums, in cooperation with PARC - the General Direction for the Quality and Preservation of the Landscape, Architecture and Contemporary Art in Italy. 

The 4th edition of Bologna Art First, a striking and original walk through the most prestigious sites in the city’s historical centre, with installations and works of art presented by galleries exhibiting at the fair and selected by a specially appointed advisory board, will be offered from 23 January to the end of February. 

Arte Fiera and the city of Bologna continue their close collaboration with an even larger number of collateral events. Now in its third year, Arte Fiera OFF presents exhibits, films, meetings, and performances at many locations in Bologna and in Emilia Romagna.

The large anthological exhibition devoted to Giorgio Morandi, the greatest Bolognese artist of the 20th century, will be inaugurated at MAMbo (the Museum of Modern Art of Bologna) on January the 22nd-2009. The exhibition is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

The night changes colour on Saturday 24th January: after its successful first edition, Art White Night transforms Bologna into a grand venue of contemporary art, with special evening hours for museums, galleries and shops in the historical centre, and concerts, shows and performances in the streets.

For further information visit, www.artefiera.bolognafiere.it