ARTE FIERA OBSERVATORY

Pier Paolo Pancotto is the curator of La Fondazione, Rome and of the Art Club exhibition programme at Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici (2016-present). He has curated, among others, the Fortezzuola exhibition series (Museo Pietro Canonica, Rome, 2016-18) and exhibition projects at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Estorick collection, London; Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna, Rome; Museo H. C. Andersen, Rome; Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome. At Arte Fiera 2020, he was a member of the jury for the Wide Art Award.

I don’t know Bologna as well as I’d like. It’s a shame. I should devote a lot more time to the city, as I promise to do every time I’m at its main train station. I’ll make up for it, because even though my stays in Bologna are short, I always remember them and the impressions I receive. For example, I remember Eva Marisaldi’s Welcome at the last Arte Fiera: I couldn’t take my eyes off the dirigibles which, covered in cloths, floated in the air as if guarding the space and, ideally, protecting it. At the same time, I was constantly attracted by the packets of sugar with their unique graphics, waiting at the various catering spots to sweeten the eyes and palates of passers-by. This was the all-embracing Welcome conceived by Eva Marisaldi: a welcome that was real, cheerful, ironic, and radiant, with that fresh lightness that only true artists are able to express. This time as well, what a marvellous welcome and what a beautiful memory of Bologna. 

Welcome by Eva Marisaldi, an ad hoc work created specifically for Arte Fiera 2020