COSA SARÀ
6-8 February 2026
After a successful 2025 edition, with the partecipation of most prestigious Italian galleries and the most important collectors brought to Bologna, Arte Fiera returned from February 6th 2026 (preview on 5 February), launching its next cycle with its new Artistic Director Davide Ferri (previously curator of five editions of Pittura XXI, the section devoted entirely to painting) in synergy with Enea Righi, Managing Director for the fourth year.
Arte Fiera, the longest-running Italian art fair, is the confirmed reference point for the Italian art system, a role it has played since its first edition in 1974. Despite a few transformations (a renewed team of curators, a new project for the “modern” hall, and a different structure for the curated sections), Arte Fiera 49’s appearance reaffirmed and enhanced this identity, celebrating Italian art in all of its many and multifaceted forms and aspects: a polycentric, polyphonic, heterogeneous system that grows with the same intensity in both large and small cities and at different latitudes. In this sense, Bologna – and Arte Fiera – have always formed a historical link between the North and South of our country.
This edition’s title, Cosa sarà (What it will be), implies energy projected toward the future; a degree of unexpectedness and intention to renew the “fair format,” a reference to the enigmatic aspect that keeps collectors and art lovers so intensely bound to contemporary art.
The public’s loyalty to Arte Fiera also derives from its familiarity with the fair’s spaces: the two halls in which it is traditionally held, lit entirely by daylight, create an environment in which post-war art (Hall 26) dialogs with contemporary art and latest-generation research (Hall 25).
The Fair’s new visual identity, conceived by Al mare. Studio, clearly expresses the title: vaguely pop, and simultaneously minimalist and elegant, it transforms the red circle that has always identified Arte Fiera into a moving sign that ascends from a hypothetical horizon and becomes a sunrise.
Five sections, new curators
Along with the Main Section, divided, as always, into post-war and contemporary art, Arte Fiera offered five curated, invitation-only sections, with some important new additions.
“Fotografia e dintorni,” the new name of the section devoted to the photographic medium, has been curated by Marta Papini, an independent curator who since 2004 has curated Radis, the public art project promoted by Fondazione per l'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT. The section presents photography from a wide perspective, and includes post-war masters and young talents, formal research and conceptual approach, as well as dialog with other media.
“Multipli” – curated for the first time by Lorenzo Gigotti, editor, co-founder and head of content of NERO – explains, by means of a wide range of media and formats (lithographs, artist books, design pieces, graphics, photographs, as well as audio books and new media), how an important part of the art scene in Italy and abroad is adopting methods to increase reproducibility and accessibility with the aim of creating more open and inclusive market structures, able to attract new collectors.
“Pittura XXI” - curated for the first time by Ilaria Gianni, critic, curator, and co-artistic director of the IUNO independent art space in Rome – reinterprets painting as a contemporary medium in a period in which it has thundered back on the art scene. It will include several emblematic researches by artists of different generations, from 2000 to today.
“Prospettiva,” in its second year, has once again been curated by Michele D’Aurizio, critic and independent curator. The section is dedicated to the creative research of young artists and presents monographic presentations by emerging galleries (with less than ten years of activity) and by established galleries, provided they have a scouting program.
“Ventesimo+” is the new project for the modern art hall, addressed to galleries that focus on post-war art. Presenting Italian and foreign art from the early 20st century to today, it will be curated by Alberto Salvadori, critic and curator, director and founder of Fondazione ICA in Milan. “Ventesimo+” focuses on collecting and indicates possible methods and forms in the pursuit of eclecticism and transversality, and considering the growth of every collection as a specific, unique, identifying phenomenon.
Collaborations and partnerships
Arte Fiera and Furla Foundation have renewed their collaboration for 2026. The program of live performances has once again been curated by the Foundation’s Artistic Director Bruna Roccasalva. For the fourth year, this collaboration has confirmed the mutual desire to develop a joint work on performance, a medium that has been present at Arte Fiera since the beginning and now represents one of the fair’s assets.
BPER Banca, the Main Partner of Arte Fiera’s 2025 edition, has continued its commitment to the event. BPER thus confirms its dedication to art and culture, convinced that they are essential for both local development and social inclusion.
Arte Fiera also continued its collaboration with ANGAMC, Associazione Nazionale Gallerie d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, with which it has formed a permanent committee.