ARTE FIERA ART FIRST 2011

Arte Fiera Art First celebrates its 35th Anniversary with the upcoming edition, in Bologna from 28 to 31 January 2011.

Italy's largest and most important art fair, a must-see event that attracts gallery owners, collectors, curators, artists, and art lovers, Arte Fiera Art First has maintained its role of top international showcase promoting Italian and foreign art from the early 20th century up to the latest trends.

Arte Fiera is not only a fair, it is a moment of cultural life for the entire city of Bologna thanks to the increasing partnerships with the local institution which allowed the promotion of high level collateral events in the whole urban space.

More than 200 galleries in the 15,000 square metres of Bologna Exhibition Centre, divided into three sectors (modern art, contemporary art, and latest trends), with an emphatically international section reserved to Young Galleries with not more than five years of activity.

INSIDE THE FAIR At Art Talks space the roundtable Art Education Programs‚ organized by IACCCA (International Association of Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art), on the several forms of art education that corporations with contemporary art collections now promote and offer to their employees. Speakers include: Jacqueline D'Amencourt of LHOIST Group, Janina Vitale of DZ Bank and Aline Pujo of Fondation Neuflize Vie, will discuss the subject with the moderator Walter Guadagnini of Unicredit Group (Italy).

Every day, at Art Café Space, meetings and presentation of art books and catalogues.

Two important Art Prizes dedicated to contemporary creativity. The 5th edition of the Euromobil Under 30 Prize—main sponsor of Arte Fiera Art First – addressed to young artists represented by galleries at Arte Fiera and selected by a jury of critics and professionals, who will announce the winner in the "I luoghi dell'arte, I luoghi del design" space inside the Fair.

The 8th edition of Furla Prize, the Italian prize recognized as a fundamental stepping stone for Italian artists to embark on an exchange from abroad, with the cooperation of Arte Fiera organizes a roundtable at the Fair with the participation of its five finalists and the Italian and foreign curators who selected them. The patron artist of this edition is Christian Boltanski who conceived the graphic image and the motto Pleure qui peut, rit qui veut.

IN TOWN During the four days of Arte Fiera, Bologna becomes an ideal setting between past and present.

From 28 January to 27 February 2011 in one of Italy's best-conserved medieval historical centres, Arte Fiera and the City of Bologna present If one winter's day a traveller, the 6th edition of Bologna Art First curated by Julia Draganovic: a wealth of individual stories, poetic tales that take shape as installations, sculptures, and performances specifically created by both well-known and rising Italian and foreign artists selected from the galleries at the Fair, that dialogue with the memory of important symbols of the city.

ARTE FIERA OFF is the showcase of all the events organized in Bologna and in the Region Emilia Romagna in these hectic days.

The cooperation among institutions, foundations and private collectors attract to Bologna renowned people within Italian and International art world: at MAMbo, the European preview of American artist Matthew Day Jackson's solo show In search of…; at Palazzo Pepoli Pleure qui peut, rit qui veut, the exhibition featuring works by the five finalists of the 8th edition of the Furla Prize, a collaboration between Fondazione Furla and Fondazione Carisbo; in Aula Magna di Santa Lucia, on Friday, January 28th 2011 Lady performance, a meeting with Marina Abramovic promoted by the Alma Mater Studiorum in collaboration with Arte Fiera; at Salone del Podestà in Palazzo Re Enzo, Happy Tech - Machines with a human face, a show of art+science that explores our relationship with new technologies sponsored by Fondazione Marino Golinelli; at Spazio Carbonesi, Svoboda, a group show of contemporary Russian artists who investigate the concept of freedom in Russia; at Basilica di Santo Stefano, the solo show on Shozo Shimamoto, one of the founders of the Gutai group, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva. In Reggio Emilia Collezione Maramotti presents Collĭgĕre, a long-established collection project tells its story through its selection of more than two hundred pieces from the Fifties to the present day.

On Saturday 29 January, Bologna changes the colour of the night with the third edition of Art White Night, a celebration of contemporary art in the historical city centre, featuring installations of Bologna Art First, museums, art galleries, and shops, opened until midnight.

Bologna Art First, 6th edition

From 28 January to 27 February 2011, in one of Italy's best-conserved medieval historical centres, Arte Fiera Art First and the City of Bologna present the 6th edition of Bologna Art First, this year with the title If on a winter's day a traveller… (inspired by Italo Calvino's novel), curated by Julia Draganovic.

The show takes place in the form of a unique path that each visitor will experience as an intimate voyage to discover old buildings and historical places by means of site-specific installations, created by both well-known and emerging Italian and foreign artists, presented by galleries participating in the fair. The installations enter into a dialogue with the memory of important symbols of the city.

"The 6th edition of Bologna Art First comprises 15 locations and 22 artists, and—as in Italo Calvino's 1979 post-modern novel—the principal character is the viewer, who creates a personalised course. The 'theme' of the exhibit is not a theme in the original sense of the word, but rather an invitation to accept the fact that multiplicities and differences can be harmonious. Each participating artist is aware not only of the historical-cultural background and architectural context but also of the current state of 'his/her' space," explains the curator of this edition of Bologna Art First, which every year is becoming a must-see event for people visiting Arte Fiera and the city.

The 2011 edition presents the following artists and installations: Maria Josè Arjona | Anatomical Theatre – Archiginnasio; Marlon de Azambuja | Courtyard between Accademia delle Belle Arti and Pinacoteca Nazionale; Lorenza Lucchi Basili | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall); Pinuccia Bernardoni | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall); Stefano Bombardieri | Piazza de' Calderini; Ericailcane | Archaeological Museum (courtyard); Anna Galtarossa | Sala Borsa; Antony Gormley | Archiginnasio (arcades) and Museo della Musica; Ghost of a Dream | Museo della Sanità e dell'Assistenza - Oratorio della Vita; Marco Giovani | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall); Vlatka Horvat | Palazzo del Podestà – Emporio della Cultura; Paolo Icaro | Courtyard of Palazzo D'Accursio; Michael Johansson | Archaeological Museum (sala trasparente); Tea Mäkipää | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall); Vittorio Messina | Museo Civico d'Arte industriale and Galleria Davia Bargellini; Hidetoshi Nagasawa | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall); Roberto Paci Dalò | University Museums of Palazzo Poggi; Luca Pancrazi | Galleria Cavour; Silke Rehberg | Medieval Museum (courtyard); Rosi Rox | Marconi Airport Business Lounge; SISSI | Chapel of Palazzo Re Enzo; Jorinde Voigt | Archaeological Museum (exhibition hall).

New in this edition are the performances at Art White Night on Saturday 29 January and during the Fair. Roberto Paci Dalò, with a small-deconstructed radio that works both as a receiver and transmitter, will "revive" Natural History exhibits in the Aldrovandi Room of Palazzo Poggi by way of a multimedia performance that immerses the space into the digital world. SISSI and Maria José Arjona, for years engaged in research about the role of the body, badly ignored in the era of virtual social networks, will present a series of performances inspired by this theme.

At the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio, Maria José Arjona presents the world premiere of her new participatory performance Habito / Abito. Also at the Anatomical Theatre, on February 11th, SISSI presents an anatomy lesson that combines Louise Bourgeois's concepts of "physical" with Matthew Barney's ideas, creating a parallel anatomy that is not only tangible but also penetrable. Lastly, Finnish artist Tea Mäkipää, presenting a very lively and humoristic artistic "battle" to protect the environment, will walk around Piazza Maggiore accompanied by her talking horse, looking for conversations.

Additionally, starting 20 January 2011, thanks to a digital map on GoogleMaps (indicating the installations with information on artists and works as "points of interest"), visitors can comment on the artists and works of Bologna Art First in a geo-blog.

28 January– 27 February 2011 various locations www.artefiera.bolognafiere.it/en/eventi/bologna-art-first

ARTE FIERA ART FIRST - 35th edition
International Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Bologna

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Bologna Art First - 6th edition
"If on a winter's day a traveller …"
Künstler: Maria Jose Arjona, Marlon de Azambuja, Lorenza Lucchi Basili, Pinuccia Bernardoni, Stefano Bombardieri, Anna Galtarossa, Antony Gormley, Ghost of a Dream , Marco Giovani, Vlatka Horvat, Paolo Icaro, Michael Johansson, Tea Mäkipää, Vittorio Messina, Hidetoshi Nagasawa, Luca Pancrazi, Silke Rehberg, Rosi Rox , SISSI , Jorinde Voigt, Roberto Paci Dalo ...
Kurator: Julia Draganovic
28.01.11 - 27.02.11