Fantom for Arte Fiera Bologna 2019
Since September 2018, Fantom has been entrusted with the curation of the Photography and Moving Images section of Arte Fiera Bologna, the modern, post-war, and contemporary art fair directed by Simone Menegoi. On the occasion of the 2019 edition, which took place from February 1-4th, we invited and selected 18 galleries featuring 35 international artists.
The Photography and Moving Images section hosts the work of 35 international artists using photography and video as both expressive languages and the focus of their investigation. The common thread underlying the works in this section is the transversal approach towards these key means of representing reality. Photography and video are presented without limits of genre, technique or content. A major theme is how these media dialogue with other artistic disciplines. Archival material, digital reconstructions, pictorial works, 3-D installations, and unconventional supports are all present in a section that not only looks at what photography and the moving image currently are, but what they are becoming in a continual process of transformation and renewal. The 2019 edition hosts 18 Italian galleries – along with the Austrian KMØ, ‘sister’ of the Italian Montrasio Gallery – providing a broad panorama of excellence on the national art scene. The artists represented come from China, Europe, Japan, UK and USA. The 21 Italian artists include names like Mario Cresci and Massimo Vitali – this latter with the largest booth in the fair – as well as members of the younger generation of international caliber, like Linda Fregni Nagler and Domingo Milella, both presenting their very latest production. In line with the fair’s new direction, ample space has been given to personal exhibits – seven in all, including an international solo show featuring Takashi Homma, the most important Japanese photographer of his generation, represented by Viasaterna (Milan), which together with Matèria (Rome), is the youngest the gallery of the section, active for less than five years. The section is complete with four bi-personal and collective exhibitions of three artists in which international names like Gordon Matta-Clark and Dennis Oppenheim are flanked by the works of as many emerging or midcareer artists. The large number of new works in all booths testifies to the cultural and research support extended by the galleries to art production in our country. They have also been active players in the new thrust given to this edition of Arte Fiera and generally to the quality and variety of visual culture in Italy and its dissemination further afield.
List of galleries in this section: Galleria Bianconi, Cardelli & Fontana, Ass. Cult. Doppelgaenger, Gallleriapiù, KmØ, La Città Projects, Matèria, Mazzoleni, Mc2gallery, Metronom, Michela Rizzo, P420, Alberto Peola, Podbielski Contemporary, Traffic Gallery, Viasaterna, Vistamare / Vistamare Studio, z2o Sara Zanin Gallery.
Arte Fiera Bologna February 1st-4th, 2019 www.artefiera.it