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“MiArt”, the modern and contemporary art fair in Milan, is back from 17th to 20th April 2009 for its fourteenth edition.
Twenty-thousand square metres (of the 3rd and 4th pavilions), more than 900 artists, 140 selected galleries, and new directors coming with well-established artists as well as others who are making their debut, these are the main ingredients of this year’s edition. The polemics of the past years, with regard to the lack of style, a precise directive line of the event, seem to be all water under the bridge and the new organisational staff is promising a renewed fair, playing the card of quality rather than quantity: there will be about sixty galleries less than the 2008 edition, according to the saying “few but good”.
A new awareness, determined by the crisis which has not even spared the art market, will make galleries entice the public with particular pieces and safe investments. Therefore, the part of the lion will be played by twentieth-century avant-gardes and well-established names, although more resources and energies have been invested on the most complex and – currently also the most disadvantaged – sector of contemporary art. Following the intentions of the curator Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, many galleries will animate the 4th pavilion with proposals by artists who are already consecrated by the world and the art market, next to young promising artists who this time will be free from the boundaries of a specifically organised space: indeed there will no longer be the usual “Preview” session dedicated to young talents, to allow them to be noticed among the big artists and offer themselves at more accessible prices.
Therefore MiArt, also to keep up with the great international fairs, is changing its appearance asking even the artists to contribute to this objective: at the entrance visitors will be dominated from above by “ Infinite Jest”, an installation by Mario Airò, a huge fluctuating book inspired to the homonymous novel by the writer David Foster Wallace, recently passed away.
The most relevant pieces that will stand out include a Picasso worth 3 million euros, a Campigli worth 1,300,000 euros, then Rauschenberg, Kiki Smith, Vanessa Beecroft, William Kentdrige, Andy Warhol, Lucio Fontana, Emilio Vedova, Burri, Kounnelis, Morandi, Schifano and many more. In the second pavilion, dedicated to modern art, there will be works of poor art (Italian and international), futurism, metaphysics and cubism. Overall, it seems that painting and sculpture, the traditional techniques, are once again prevailing, pushing into the background experimental and more innovative forms of expression, a trend probably dictated but the current situation of the market.
Before and while the fair takes place there will also be a series of parallel initiatives that involve the whole city of Milan: “Mirages” is the name of the initiative that is transforming Milan into an open-air museum, thanks to the positioning of monumental sculptures in some parts of the city; on Saturday evening thanks to the “Sleepless art night” museums and galleries will stay open until midnight and a big party will be held in the industrial area of Lambrate – where the Lambretto art project will be inaugurated, the new pole dedicated to contemporary art ideated by Mariano Pichler, creator of the urban renovation of the area – finally on Sunday evening there will be Vanessa Beecroft’s comeback, to present the video of her performance VB65 recently realised in Milan.
MiArt, Modern and Contemporary Art Fair in Milan
Quartiere fieramilanocity
Opening times: 11.00 am – 8.00 pm, 20th April 11.00 am – 6.00 pm
Website: http://www.miart.it/default_i_bis.asp
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