The Artsy Guide to miart
Just in time for spring, miart returns to the heart of Milan, with a premier selection of 148 international modern and contemporary art galleries. Between five specialized sections, a full schedule of programming across the city, and what miart director Vincenzo de Bellis calls “a miniature art festival that weaves tales of constellations and parallel universes, turning the planetarium into a place of discovery,” this year’s miart is not to be missed.
1. When? Where? How?
miart 2014 takes place March 28th–30th, at fieramilanocity (viale Scarampo, gate 5, pav. 3, 20149 Milan). Tickets may be purchased on site, or online, here.
2. Why visit?
miart offers a premier modern and contemporary art fair experience, with the unique opportunity to encounter a slice of the art world at this moment, within the context of Milan and its deeply rooted and rich artistic past. Taking strides to set itself apart from other art fairs, miart encourages dialogues between old and new, established and emerging, local and international, and overall communication and resonance within the fair and various participating art institutions and organizations.
The fair is organized into five sections: Established, the main section featuring international galleries that have been operating for many years, plus four specialized sections: Emergent, THENnow, Object, and Conflux, all of which are outlined below.
3. Emergent
This section, curated by Andrew Bonacina (Chief Curator, The Hepworth, Wakefield), is focused on 20 younger galleries engaged in experimental artistic research, taking an avant-garde approach to exhibitions and representing young, emerging artists.
4. THENnow
Developed through an invitational process, THENnow is comprised of 18 galleries, each showing an artist pairing—one younger artist, from an emerging generation, and the other a more historical or established artist.
5. Object
This section is dedicated to 10 design galleries showing objects that were initially created as limited editions, and are now given the opportunity and context to be shown as works of art.
6. Conflux
A collaborative effort between artists, galleries and fair organizers, Conflux is a new platform that highlights five solo, duo, or site-specific artist projects, to be shown together at miart. Curated by Abaseh Mirvali, Conflux includes artists from top international galleries, all of whom will exhibit in the fair’s Established section.
The participants are:
Rokni Haerizadeh, Ramin Haerizadeh, Hesam Rahmanian & Iman Raad, Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai
Waldemar Zimbelmann, Meyer Riegger, Berlin-Karlsruhe
Goldin+Senneby and Meriç Algün Ringborg, NON, Istanbul
Gaspar Libedinsky, Praxis, Buenos Aires & New York
Edgar Orlaineta, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles
7. miartalks
A multidisciplinary program of talks, miartalks will take place each day of the fair, in the form of lectures, and conversations and interviews between top art world players, including artists, designers, museum professionals, critics, curators, and collectors. Three talks will be part of a future publication, 2014 series, discussing art-making, curating and criticism,coordinated by Luca Lo Pinto, Independent Curator and Editor-in-Chief of NERO Magazine, Rome.
Highlights include:
“Masters of Photography”: Juergen Teller, Artist, London, with an introduction by Alessia Glaviano. Mar. 28th, at 2pm.
“Time-Based Art”: Jörg Heiser, Co-Editor, frieze; Co-Publisher, frieze d/e, Berlin in conversation with David Lamelas, Artist, Los Angeles, London, Buenos Aires, with an introduction by Luca Lo Pinto. Mar. 28th, 3:15pm.
“Time-Based Exhibitions”: Joan Jonas, Artist, New York in conversation with Marcella Lista, Curator, Contemporary Art, Musée du Louvre, Paris, with an introduction by Luca Lo Pinto. Mar. 29th, 3:15pm.
“Time Capsule”: Nav Haq, Curator, MuHKA, Antwerp, in conversation with Akram Zaatari, Artist, Beirut, with an introduction by Luca Lo Pinto. Mar. 30th, 3:15pm.
8. Awards
Several awards will be given at miart, through collaborations with institutional partners. Awards include:
The Giampiero Cantoni acquisition fund of Fondazione Fiera Milano
The Emergent Prize, supported by Studio Legale LCA Lega Colucci e Associati, Law Firm, which will be awarded to one outstanding gallery in the Emergent section.
The Rotary Club Milano Brera Prize for contemporary art and young artists, a prize that accompanies the acquisition of an artwork by a young artist for the future MAC Museum of Contemporary Art of Milan.
9. The Spring Awakening
Running alongside miart is The Spring Awakening, a series of programs including events, openings, and special museum hours at art institutions across Milan, beginning on the Spring equinox.Every day the program will feature a new opening including Piero Manzoni at Palazzo Reale, Cildo Meireles at HangarBicocca, and Ian Cheng and Michael E. Smith at the Triennale Design Museum. See the full schedule of events, here.
10. Cine Dreams
Through a project curated by miart director Vincenzo de Bellis and Massimiliano Gioni, three artists were invited to conceive works of art to be played on a planetarium screen. Featuring the resulting installations and multimedia projects, Cine Dreams will be screened each night of the fair at Ulrico Hoepli Civic Planetarium of Milan, a Neoclassical building by architect Piero Portaluppi. Made possible through an important partnership with Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, the participating artists are Stan VanDerBeek, Jeronimo Voss, and Katie Paterson. Learn more here.
