ARTE FIERA OBSERVATORY

Paola Forni
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Paola Forni earned a degree in biology in 1985 and immediately began working with her father Tiziano, managing the Gallery he had founded in 1967. She became the Gallery’s director in 1995, opening and managing Studio Forni in Milan from 1998 to 2010 and Spazio Forni in Ragusa to 2011. She has curated many thematic exhibitions that place works of celebrated masters alongside those of contemporary artists; the most recent were "Out of the blue" in 2012 and "Assenze" in 2015. Paola Forni and her Gallery attend the largest Italian and international fairs and work with numerous private galleries, public spaces, and museums in Italy and abroad.

Arte Fiera is part of my story – the story not only of my gallery, but also of my life. I was there at the very first edition in 1974, and I’ve seen a succession of artistic directors, presidents of BolognaFiere, mayors of the city, artists and galleries. How could I ever forget when Arte Fiera (with Luca Cordero di Montezemolo as President and Silvia Evangelisti as artistic director) launched the perceptive and wonderfully farsighted plan to extend the passion for art from the Fair’s halls to Bologna’s historical centre, dialoguing with institutions, opening the city’s cultural salons, public spaces and museums, expanding the energy that Arte Fiera always generates to sites far beyond the Fair District. The format they created has been maintained and is now the very essence of Arte Fiera.

I have countless memories of Arte Fiera, from when I was a timid and insecure young woman working alongside my father to learn the trade, to later years when I started planning stands and setups to present our artists’ works. The nervous excitement of the wait, successes and failures, many decisive and fortuitous meetings with eminent foreign gallery owners, Italian colleagues, collectors arriving from all corners of the world … wonderful experiences in the halls of Arte Fiera. But the memory I cherish the most is of that very first edition – the first adventure, because it really was an adventure! There were about ten of us, exhibitors representing the “art” sector at the trade fair. Our stands were next to ones for tortellini and flat bread. To make matters worse, it was unbearably hot (in June!) and the world football championship completely diverted the public’s attention away from the fair. The result: a commercial flop! But it was the debut of a great adventure, a positive experience shared with gallery owners who have written the history of Arte Fiera, such as my friend Ennio Casciaro of the Goethe Gallery and the late Pasquale Ribuffo of the De’ Foscherari Gallery. We all understood that that bizarre first edition had great potential. Since then, the Forni Gallery has made Arte Fiera the main event on its exhibition calendar and has participated in every edition with the same energy and commitment – even in the darkest of times (such as the one anticipated due to the cancelled 2021 edition) that have inevitably struck all of the top players in this field. I am confident that Arte Fiera will return in 2022, ready and eager for a new challenge.
 

Galleria Forni ad Arte Fiera
from left: the President Dante Stefani and the Mayor Renzo Imbeni together with Tiziano, Paola and Stefano Forni