Arte Fiera 2017 closes with 48 thousand visitors

Arte Fiera 2017 closes with 48 thousand visitors

Arte Fiera 2017 closes with 48 thousand visitors

30/01/2017

A success that rewards Angela Vettese’s new artistic direction and the new protagonists of this 41st edition with 178 exhibitors in total and 153 galleries

 

The 41st edition of Arte Fiera has registered 48,000 visitors to the event inaugurated on the 27th January in the pavilions of BolognaFiere. A figure that confirms the success of the first edition under the artistic direction of Angela Vettese, who plotted a new way forward for the leading event for modern and contemporary art in Italy.

Selection, quality, curation and market were the key words of this edition. 153 galleries (a total of 178 exhibitors) with a deliberate mix between modern and contemporary, solo and collective shows: a more contained approach, a finer selection of galleries in attendance, a considered choice that met with the appreciation of the collectors and gallery owners and managers and the public, who from the opening day packed the pavilions of the exhibition, confirming Arte Fiera’s status as an unmissable event for the art market.

The comments from gallery owners and collectors underline the important role Arte Fiera holds for the art market; at the conclusion of the event the success of the Arte Fiera was considered to have been even greater than last year’s edition.

“My first Arte Fiera,” explains Artistic Director, Angela Vettese, “concludes after days of meetings and encounters, talks, exhibitions at the fair and around the city as part of a new exhibition project that attempts to gather the input for a further selection and enrichment of the content. Objectives achieved: streamlining, offering quality stands, mixing modern with contemporary, focussing on books and photography. My work will continue in the construction of the edition of Arte Fiera 2018, in the direction of an even higher quality exhibition and a further reinforcement of the relationships, which are already excellent, with the institutions and the cultural reality in Bologna.”

“The assessment of Arte Fiera 2017 is very positive,” explains President Franco Boni, “it is the beginning of a project with a strong cultural core that is set to see a closer collaboration with the institutions of the city, both public and private. My personal thanks go to the Artistic Director Angela Vettese for the courageous choices she made that have laid the foundations for an even more innovative edition in 2018. We are happy that the market,” Boni continues, “with its dynamic performance has justified the path Arte Fiera has pursued, confirming the event’s status as the leading Italian event for modern and contemporary art”.”

Together with the Main Section and Solo Shows, the new edition of Arte Fiera introduced the public to a small selection of new proposals (Nueva Vista curated by Simone Frangi), a renewed Photography section, curated by Angela Vettese, and an articulated selection of performances at the Fair and in the City with the section Special Projects by Chiara Vecchiarelli.

The independent world was on display at the exhibition Genda – The body as packaging and Agenda Independent and Printville, the bookshop curated A+Mbookstore e Humboldt, choices capable of highlighting new aspects of Arte Fiera to investigate the frontiers between new arts and the market.

Mauro Stefanini, President of the National Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries: “For Italian galleries Arte Fiera is the main event of the year and the most important in Italy. We all have great expectations of it, thanks also to the flow of collectors and visitors. I consider this year’s event to have been a wonderful edition, of high quality with important works. The galleries have brought the best of their activities and their artists. The artistic director Angela Vettese has done an excellent job in spite of it being her first experience directing the fair, her commitment was notable and this leads to excellent results because Bologna always rewards commitment and great work.”

Patrizia Raimondi, President of the Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries of Bologna: “The choices made by director Angela Vettese to reduce the number of galleries and monitor the quality of the works on display have been successful. I believe that the 2017 edition of Arte Fiera successfully rose to the challenge and attracted a numerous public and a large number of collectors from all over Italy and the world. I think that there was a good response from the market and, therefore, we can say that this edition concluded overall very positively, both in terms of expectations and also results produced by the fair in relation to the proposed programme. I would say that the efforts of BolognaFiere generally and of Angela Vettese were rewarded with results that exceeded expectations.”

Great success also this year for Art City Bologna, with the new project formula of the section entitled Polis, coordinated by the Bologna Museums Institution, supported and proposed by Arte Fiera with the aim of promoting exhibitions and interventions by contemporary artists specifically conceived in dialogue with the particular characteristics of the exhibition spaces and the historic locations in which they are inserted. Arte Fiera’s proposals in the city were appreciated by visitors and the city’s inhabitants: the Civic Archaeological Museum – Bologna Museums Institution the film exhibition that revisited the national identity Viva l'Italia curated by Mark Nash; in the city’s science museums, at the MAMbo museum and at the Fair the programme Special Projects: Time Specific Artist Lectures, Site Specific Artist Lectures curated by Chiara Vecchiarelli; the exhibition of video documentaries Corpo Sensibile by young Italian artists curated by Marco Bertozzi. Thousands of people in the city also took part in Art White Night Bologna, an event that each year turns Bologna into the Italian capital of modern and contemporary art.

Confirming the new energy of those who enjoyed the Fair are some examples of the immediate positive feedback from some participating gallery owners and managers:

 

Laura Trisorio , Studio Trisorio:

 “The evaluation is a positive one. The quality has improved and attendance has increased. We saw also foreign collectors, this year more than other years. Also in terms of sales, things went well and we’re satisfied.”

 

Alessandra Bonomo, Galleria Bonomo:

 “Collectors that we already know came but there were also new ones that we had never seen before, all of whom were very interested in artists that they hadn’t heard of that we represent because we always endeavour to bring something new.”

 

Dario Bonetta, Galleria A+B:

 “Things are going well, the choices for the Fair have produced good results because the lower number of exhibitors enabled the visitors and collectors to have a more in-depth experience both linked to the work and the activities of the artists. In this way there was much more attention compared with recent years.”

 

Matteo Lampertico, Galleria Lampertico:

 “A wonderful edition, greatly improved thanks to the curatorship of the new director Angela Vettese who set rigorously selective criteria: the stands were less crowded, less overloaded and I think that the public showed signs of approval for this edition.”

 

Daniele Palazzoli - Galleria Blu Milano:

 “There were many people even on Thursday, so I’m really happy. Interested people, asking questions, enquiring about prices and making purchases.”

 

Matteo Boetti, Galleria Bibo’s Place:

 “Very satisfying. Many of the right kind of people attended: it’s not the number but the quality that counts. The selections made by the new director further raised the bar for the event that I found absolutely convincing.”

 

Ida Pisani, Prometeo Gallery:

 “I think it went very well: there was a large public, increasingly interested in contemporary art. This edition of the Fair I think was very positive.”

 

Alessia Paladini, Contrasto Galleria:

“There is significant interest in photography both in terms of attendance and also the acknowledgement and in-depth interest. Photography is becoming more appealing to collectors who, perhaps, will pass from collecting other forms of to collecting photography. We’re happy.”

 

Michele Bella, Galleria Valeria Bella:

 “We’re happy with the work that Arte Fiera has done for photography and to be among the leading galleries at this edition. I think that the Bologna event can continue working to provide increasing visibility to photography and, above all, manage to bring to Arte Fiera important foreign galleries.”

 

Michela Rizzo dell’omonima Galleria:

 “I believe that the Fair in Bologna is always interesting. You have to participate because you meet so many people, the flow of public is always very numerous, and it was this year too so work went well.”

 

Filippo Di Carlo, Galleria dello Scudo:

“We met new collectors, Arte Fiera always offers all sorts of opportunities. We’re pretty satisfied.”

 

Marco Niccoli, Galleria Niccoli:

 “The flow of people is both notable and undisputable. Yesterday was a great day. There was a lot of interest, many enthusiasts and curious visitors. From the commercial point of view I think that in some ways interest is more focussed but there is less inclination to spend.”

 

THE PRIZES

Four prizes that marked this edition of Arte Fiera: Gruppo Euromobil, the main sponsor of Arte Fiera, with the 11th edition of Gruppo Euromobil under 30 Award reserved for artists presented by the galleries at the Fair. This year’s winners are The Cool Couple, two artists presented by the MLZ ArtDep Gallery from Trieste.

In its third edition the Videoinsight® Foundation Award was assigned by Rebecca Russo, President of the Videoinsight Foundation to the artist Fabrizio Passarella with the work 'Il Giardino Rabescato/The Arabesque-adorned Garden (Kitab al-Qalb)’  | 2013-2016 –L’Ariete Gallery, Bologna. 

The P420 Gallery in Bologna with the work "Porta pittura" by the artist Riccardo Baruzzi is the winner of the Valle del Samoggia Rotary Prize awarded for the most creative installation presented at Arte Fiera 2017.

The ANGAMC PRIZE 2017, promoted and organised by the National Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries, went to Carla Pellegrini Rocca the Milanese gallery manager and owner.

The #ContemporaryYoung Award – launched by the Young Entrepreneurs of Unindustria Bologna and open to all artists at Arte Fiera 2017 aged under 35 who made works on the theme of Art is Work - Is Work Art? L’Arte è Lavoro - il Lavoro è Arte? – This year’s winner was Silvia Hell with the work маркиз, markiz, marchiz, markíz, márki, markez II (SRB) / A Form of History of 2013 from Galleria A+B (Brescia), Nueva Vista section. The winner of the prize is rewarded with the purchase of the work, which will become part of the collection of the Young Entrepreneurs of Unindustria Bologna.

More than 1000 accredited journalists from all over the world, from Germany to Mexico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Korea, reporting on the Fair and the proposals of the new artistic direction. There was significant TV and radio coverage, around 1000 articles in the printed press and online with special reports, interviews, reportage that launched and followed Arte Fiera 2017. Also of note was the renewal of the Media Partnership RAI with Arte Fiera, a collaboration now in its third year that saw incisive collaboration with RAI News 24, TGR, Radio 1 and Radio 3 reporting on the event  with live broadcasts and in-depth analysis, raising the profile of Arte Fiera in Italy and internationally

There were also significant results for the online channels of the Fair: on the official event website visits exceeded 100,000 units with over 500,000 pages visited (+5% and +7% compared with 2016) with over 18,000 unique users each day. The 4 active social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube) involved the public and gallery owners and managers of Arte Fiera: Facebook with 44,000 fans reached 60,000 daily users (+33% on 2016) and 15,000 interactions each day. The Arte Fiera and Art City White Night events reached 188,700 and 212,200 users respectively. Twitter registered 8,800 followers and over 4000 visualizations each day: Instagram played a leading role: 6000 followers (+20% on 2016) and 10,000 visualizations each day for the “Instagram Stories”.

We would like to thank the main sponsors of the 2017 edition of Arte Fiera, Gruppo Euromobil with the associated brands Zalf, Euromobil and Désirée, the partner of the Collectors’ Programme Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking;  the official car Citroën, Autopiù and Leucos, the technical partner  of the bookshop partner Printville and RAI, Main Media Partner that reported on the event with live broadcasts and in-depth analysis on RAI News 24, TGR, Radio 1 and Radio 3.

 

Website:  www.artefiera.it

Facebook.com /artefiera 
Twitter.com /artefiera 
Instagram /artefiera_bologna

YouTube /http://bit.ly/11qM4ni

Official event hashtag: #artefiera