Between talks, special projects, big names and
emerging realities, the 25th edition of Artissima has just ended.
The fair stood out once again for its turnout, setting
a new record of 54,800 visitors compared to the 52,000 of last year.
Looking at the numbers, the
event is nothing but a triumph – with 195 international art galleries
from 35 countries, over 500 collectors, around 50 partners and sponsors, and as
much as 1,500 journalists.
Still, we could ask ourselves –
despite the many novelties that helped make the fair an immersive experience
even beyond its institutional spaces, is it still tied up with excessively
standard references? Has the time come to integrate it further with new
parameters that answer more to the contemporary demand of market and research?
Our
feeling is that this was yet another occasion to privilege the reassuring
linearity that characterizes the fair as a competitive format mostly for the
big names of the market, rather than for the emerging realities, using a bit too
much caution in the dialogue with the latter.
Nevertheless, we saw several prime
examples – both well known and interestingly surprising. Just to name a few,
it’s worth mentioning the works exhibited by Gregor Podnar, Semiose, Eva Meyer...
But here are our favorite booths.
KOW
Strong and well-developed, the German gallery brought together several
artists that are very different from each other, such as Chto Delat, León
Ferarri, Barbara Hammer, Chris Martin, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger,
Henrike Naumann, Oswald Oberhuber, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt and Michael E.
Smith.
ISABELLA BORTOLOZZI
One of the most structured booths of
the entire fair, it managed to create a dialogue to compare works by artists
such as Oscar Murillo, Michaela Eichwald, Leila Hekmat, Veit Laurent
Kurz, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, Stephen G. Rhodes, Jos de Gruyter &
Harald Thys.
VICTORIA MIRO
Undoubted elegance for Victoria Miro’s booth, whose wise and measured rigor explored the variations of portrait through the works by Stan Douglas, Elmgreen & Dragset, Alex Hartley and Francesca Woodman.
A delicate and suspended balance designed this Danish booth, with elegant neon light compositions by Gun Gordillo, which stood out in isolation in their refined
discretion.
RIBOT
A booth that perfectly managed to balance the works
of the exhibited artists, developing through a dialogue path between the
sculptures by Oren Pinhassi and the paintings by
Marco Reichert.
VEDA & EMANUEL LAYR
Emanuel Layr and Veda took part
in Artissima with a shared stand, dominated by the works by Marius Engh – an
artist represented by both – side by side with those by Matthias Noggler and
Lily Reynaud-Dewar for the Viennese gallery and by Damon Zucconi and Hayley
Silverman for the Florentine one.
EDOUARD MALINGUE GALLERY
The Hong Kong and Shanghai based Edouard Malingue
Gallery brought to the table a very interesting selection, choosing to exhibit
artists that – through different countries and disciplines – explored the
aesthetics of daily life, swinging between the variables and possibilities of
its representations. The works by He Yida, Jeremy Everett, Ko Sin Tung and João
Vasco Paiva preserve on one hand their solid autonomy, while on the other
structuring along a synergy that kept them so close to make them appear each as
a fundamental part of research of the other.
- Marialuisa Pastò