ARTE FIERA OBSERVATORY

Luca Cerizza
photo

Luca Cerizza (b. Milan, 1969), a critic and curator, lives in Turin. He has taught at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan) since 2006. His books include Alighiero Boetti. Mappa (Afterall, London 2008/Electa, Milan 2009) and L’uccello e la piuma. La questione della leggerezza nell’arte italiana (Et al. Edizioni, Milan 2010). He curated the collection of Giovan Battista Salerno’s essays on Alighiero Boetti (Massimo De Carlo, 2009), the anthology of critical essays by Tommaso Trini (Johan & Levi, Milan, 2016), and the most complete monographs on Diego Perrone and Gianni Pettena (Mousse, Milan 2020).
His latest curatorial projects include: personal shows by Gianfranco Baruchello (Raven Row, London, 2017) and Tino Sehgal (OGR, Turin, 2018), the conference/show
Campo Umano. Arte Pubblica 50 anni dopo (Fondazione Ratti, Como, 2019, with Zasha Colah), and the show Vincenzo Agnetti. NEG: Suonare le pause (Esprit Nouveau Pavilion, Bologna 2021).
 

You never forget your first (art) fair. Idem for Arte Fiera in Bologna. Vivid memories of the late ‘90s. Times of uncertain and somewhat unconscious transitions from studying art (both old and new) to working in art (very contemporary). A few secret shows, nights at Link, breathing Bologna’s nonconformist atmosphere. But what I remember most of all – it must have been in ’96 or ’97 while working at the Fair during a short apprenticeship in Massimo De Carlo’s gallery – was a withering remark by De Carlo. Replying to a collector looking for absolute truths (“what artist would you bring to a desert island?”), MDM didn’t name the then-rising star Cattelan, but an artist of a certain renown who – knowing the collector’s taste – was more noteworthy for her beauty than for her talent. The collector fell for it, whereas I (who understood his sarcasm) nearly choked on my drink.