L'uomo nero, 1959
Oil on canvas, 120 x 120,5 cm
Courtesy Tornabuoni Arte
Drumer Brigade, 1963
Oil on canvas, bands and straps
61 x 61 x 12 cm
Signed, dated and titled on the back
Courtesy Studio Gariboldi
Park Avenue, 1969
Oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm
Courtesy Studio Gariboldi
Stop, 1972/1975
Oil on canvas, 70 x 35 cm
Courtesy Galleria Tonelli
Terra su terra - Tronco, 2015
Bronze and terracotta, 220,5 x 85 x 50 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Tucci Russo Studio per l'Arte Contemporanea,
Turin and Torre Pellice
Ph. Photo Archives Tucci Russo Gallery
After celebrating a half-century of activity with a fantastic 2024 edition, marked by the return of large galleries and by many collectors, Arte Fiera looks to the future and confirms its growth under the leadership of Artistic Director Simone Menegoi and Managing Director Enea Righi. The exhibition’s traditional halls (25 and 26), reconfirmed for 2025, will showcase the Italian scene: current and past artists, new and established galleries, publishers, critics and institutions. A complete panorama of which Arte Fiera is a trusted interpreter, from post-war masters to emerging artists.
Arte Fiera Bologna 2025: Exhibitors, sections and curators
After the return of galleries such as Apalazzo, Laveronica, Lia Rumma, Lorenzelli, Franco Noero, Ronchini, and Sprovieri in 2024 (confirmed for 2025 as well), Arte Fiera 2025’s 176 galleries include important new returns, such as Gió Marconi, Magazzino, Raffaella Cortese and Tucci Russo, and first-time foreign galleries such as Herald St.
Giardino bianco, 1966
Ferro verniciato, lamiere tagliate, curvate,
saldate verniciate, 38 x 51 x 2 cm, Edition of 5
Courtesy Archivio Pietro Consagra and Cortesi Gallery
Kiss me, I'm Italian, 1972
Coloured mixed technique on paper
78 x 66 cm. Edition: 100, X
Publisher: Studio Marconi, Milan
© Archivio Baj, Vergiate.
Courtesy Gió Marconi, Milan
La Fortune II, 1973
Colour lithographie, 55 x 75,5 cm
Edition: 90
© Man Ray Trust. Courtesy Gió Marconi, Milan
Arte Fiera’s Main Section, divided as always into post-war and contemporary art, will be accompanied by four invitation-only curated sections: Photography and moving images, Multiples, Pittura XXI, and, making its debut, Prospettiva, devoted to emerging artists, whether represented by new or established galleries.
Photography and moving images will be curated for the third year by Giangavino Pazzola, curator of Camera - Centro Italiano per la Fotografia in Turin. For the second year, Multiples will be curated by Alberto Salvadori, critic and art historian. Davide Ferri, critic and independent curator specializing in contemporary painting, has curated Pittura XXI since its first edition. The debut of Prospettiva is entrusted to Michele D’Aurizio, curator and critic working in Italy and in the United States.
Alongside the curated sections there will again be Percorso: not really a section, but an itinerary that thematically links some of the stands in the Main Section and in the curated sections. After two years devoted to artistic forms (Ceramics in 2023 and Drawing in 2024), Percorso 2025 will also concern the content of the works: in fact, the new theme is “Community.” The format's new theme for 2025 - on which the partnership with Ducati is renewed - is the idea of "Community," as expressed by "Community: not "I" but "we."
15 exhibitors in the section dedicated to publishing and 13 exhibitors in the section dedicated to institutions complete the list of 204 exhibitors at Arte Fiera 2025.
Robert Sherman, 1983
Gelatin silver print, 63 x 61 x 3,5 cm
Courtesy Galleria Franco Noero
La Nascita, Milano Centrale, 11 avril 2024
Color photographic print, laminated on dibond,
matte plexiglass, flush frame and American box
in walnut, 123 x 183 x 6,5 cm
Unique work
Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua
Venere Italica, Florence, 1990-91
Printed on baryta paper "True Black Fine-Art Giclée"
115 x 90 cm, Edition: 6
Courtesy the artist and Vistamare, Milan, Pescara
ph. Mimmo Jodice
Perché il Sol ne riluca, 1991
Polaroid, 60 x 50 cm
Courtesy Galleria Il Ponte
Double (Antonine Artaud), 1996
Composition of 9 polaroids, 10 x 10 cm each
Courtesy Galleria Il Ponte
Parable #5, 2023
c-print, 101 x 131 cm
Courtesy the artist and Laveronica
94 Million Years of Collectivism, Karl Marx, 2023
Alu dibond 5mm, back printed black
109 x 174,6 cm
Courtesy the artist and Laveronica
One hundred staring sheep (diptych), 2024
Fine art print, 137 x 113 cm each
Courtesy the artist and Artopia Gallery
Installation view, Artopia Gallery
Photo Michela Pedranti
Arte Fiera Bologna 2025: Public program and special projects
Opus Novum #7: Maurizio Nannucci
Every year since 2019, Arte Fiera has commissioned an Italian established artist to create a work to be presented at the fair. The series, named Opus Novum, was inaugurated by Flavio Favelli, followed by Eva Marisaldi (2020), Stefano Arienti (2021), Liliana Moro (2022), Alberto Garutti (2023), and Luisa Lambri (2024).
Up/Down, 1984/2024
Red and blue Murano glass neon lights/
Timed ignition in three variants, 130 x 245 x 7 cm
Courtesy Galleria Enrico Astuni
Photo Renato Ghiazza
This year, the artist invited to create a new work for the fair is Maurizio Nannucci (b. 1939), an internationally renowned Italian artist since the 1960s. The author of sound and photographic works as well as artist books, Maurizio Nannucci is known above all for his use of the word as artistic material, specifically in the form of neon writing for site-specific installations. His contribution to the “Opus Novum” series is a work in edition: a high GSM paper shopper with YOU CAN IMAGINE THE OPPOSITE printed on its two main sides. A provocation – now more urgent than ever – to consider a radical alternative. Author, exhibition curator, collector, and even publisher of multiples (with Exempla, Zona Archives, and Recorthings, which he founded), Maurizio Nannucci views serial production as a way to affirm the preeminence of the idea of the individual action and as an opportunity for the democratic propagation of art. An approach shared by Arte Fiera as demonstrated by the creation of Multiples, a specific section for works in edition.
NASTURTIUMS FLAUNT TRUMPETS OF FIRE
TEASINGLY DEMONIC, 2017-2023
Acrylic on canvas, 101,6 x 101,6 cm
Courtesy Thomas Brambilla
Silhouette 1, 2011
Wood, plastic, spray paint, 86 x 131 cm
Courtesy ZERO...
Photo © Filippo Armellin
Rice and Juice, 2007
Performative sculpture:
shopping bags with rice and fruit
70 x 50 x 50 cm
Courtesy ZERO...
Black Diamond The corridor #1, 2024
Pigment print on Canson satin paper,
aluminium frame, 73 x 100 cm
Courtesy the artist and Artipia Gallery
Book Talk
The 4th edition of Book Talk, the series of conversations devoted entirely to art books, realized in partnership with BPER and curated by Guendalina Piselli, portrays the lively relationship between art and publishing, and its ability to stimulate great interest not only among professionals, but in the general public as well. A full calendar of presentations during the fair offers recently published works – essays, artist books, catalogs, and monographs – presented by critics, scholars, artists.
The Talks include Marie De Brugerolle, art historian and curator, in conversation with Vincenzo Estremo, theorist of moving images, presenting “Post-Performance Future. Method/e” (delpire and co edizioni), a research project analyzing the impact and legacy of performance art on the visual arts.
A double presentation creates a dialog between the book “Rematerialization of language 1978-2022” by Cristiana Perrella, Andrea Viliani, and Vittoria Pavesi (NERO Editions), and the monograph “Tomaso Binga. Euforia” by Eva Fabbris, Lilou Vidal, and Stefania Zuliani with Anna Cuomo (Lenz press), presented by Cristiana Perrella and Eva Fabbris.
Another double presentation compares “Skank Bloc Bologna: Alternative Art Spaces since 1977” by Roberto Pinto and Francesca Spampinato (Mousse), and “Anni Novanta. Arti visive, moda e design” by Alessandra Acocella and Valentina Rossi (postmedia books). The speakers will link the history of non-profit exhibition spaces in Bologna from 1977 to today with the Italian creative scene in the 1990s.
“On Patterns” (Mousse) by Adelaide Cioni will be an opportunity to focus on the research of this artist, protagonist of Arte Fiera’s performance program in collaboration with Fondazione Furla. She will talk with Ilaria Puri Purini, author of the book’s texts, and with Daria Khan, Jennifer Higgie, Jareh Das, Agnieszka Gratza, and Cecilia Canziani.
Ancora Gora #13, 2023
Sumi ink on hotel letterhead paper
26 x 18,4 cm (unframed)
Courtesy the artist and Galleria Fonti, Naples
Natura Morta, 1956
Pencil on paper, 19,5 x 26,4 cm
Courtesy Galleria Sprovieri
Cjiesa di San Francesco Saverio,
Palermo Cash Book Drawing I, 2023
Indian ink, charcoal and coloured pencil
on found paper, 52 x 76,8 cm (not framed,
62,5 x 87 x 5 cm (framed)
Courtesy Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan, Naples
Incidente, 1964
Mixed technique on cardboard, 99 x 68,5 cm
Courtesy Galleria Tonelli
Luca II, 49, 1977
Photography with typographic intervention
30,5 x 40,5 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Frittelli arte contemporanes, Florence
Un consiglio di moda, 1970
Collage on cardboard, 35 x 50 cm
Courtesy Frittelli arte contemporanes, Florence
Fondazione Furla
Arte Fiera renews its collaboration with Fondazione Furla for the live performance program curated by Bruna Roccasalva, the Foundation’s Artistic Director.
This year, the invited artist is Adelaide Cioni (b. Bologna,1976), who presents a performance created for the exhibition. Adelaide Cioni’s work regards the origins of the sign. Although her research covers a wide range of expressive forms - including painting, literature, music, and theater - her starting point remains drawing.
At Arte Fiera 2025, Adelaide Cioni presents Five Geometric Songs, a performance in which abstract geometric motifs become the visualization of rhythm in space by means of five costumes designed by the artist and worn by five dancers who perform to original music by Dom Bouffard. The result of Cioni’s longtime focus on abstraction and color, on the origin of shape, and on the concept of patterns, the performance is both an evolution of a previous performance, Song for a Square, a Circle, a Triangle (2023) and a response to its specific location in Bologna: the Padiglione de l’Esprit Nouveau (1977), a faithful reproduction of an original design by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, exactly 100 years ago.
Thursday 6 February at 4, 5, 6 PM | Friday 7 February at 11 AM and 12 N | Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February at 11 AM, 12 N, 1 PM - Piazza Costituzione, 11, Bologna
Untitled, 1966
Acrylic and pencil on canvas, 25 x 25 cm
Copyright of the artist
Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery,
London, Rome, New York
Omaggio a Ebla [Homage to Ebla], 1981
Terracotta and oxydes, set of twenty
70 x 50 x 13 cm
Copyright pf the artist
Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery,
London, Rome, New York
Agostino Bonalumi
Rosso, 1977
Vinyl tempera on shaped canvas, 140 x 140 cm
Courtesy Cortesi Gallery
Ai Weiwei
Estasi di Santa Cecilia (After Raffaello), 2024
Toy bricks, 228 x 152 cm
Unique work
Courtesy AI WEIWEI STUDIO and
Galleria Continua
Ph. Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
Alberto Savinio
Nascita di Venere, 1950
Tempera on mansonite, 70 x 58 cm
Courtesy Tornabuoni Arte
Alfredo Piri
Senza Titolo, 2002
Plexiglass, steel wire, enamel and acrylic,
watercolour, watercolour paper
77 x 59 x 12,5 cm
© Alfredo Pirri. Courtesy z2o Sara Zanin
Photo Dario Lasagni
Autoritratto Come Santa Olivia Riservia
Su Giaguaro, 2024
Drawing and collage with graphit and
oil pastel from handmade carbon paper
on Taiwanese Gampi paper, 240 x 190 cm
© Marta Roberti. Courtesy z2o Sara Zanin
Arte Fiera Bologna 2025: Awards
BPER Prize
The BPER Prize, devoted to enhancing feminine themes, is part of the BPER Group’s traditional efforts focused on inclusion and the fight against gender violence, united with the promotion of culture and art.
As in 2024 (the first year of the prize), BPER will acquire the winning work and display it in its exhibition spaces, thereby providing visibility to the work and to the artist after the conclusion of Arte Fiera, Bologna 2025.
The jury is composed of Serena Morgagni, Director of Communications of BPER Banca; Caterina Riva, Director of MACTE - Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Termoli; Frida Carazzato, scientific curator at Museion - Museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea di Bolzano.
Marval Acquisition Award
Addressed primarily to emerging and mid-career artists, the Marval Acquisition Award consists of an acquisition to be added to the Marval Collection, a residency offered to the winning artist, and a targeted campaign on the Collection’s network to give the artist and gallery as much visibility as possible.
The jury is composed of collectors Marco and Valeria Curina.
Untitled [la rosée], 2024
Salt, pigments, oil pastel, gold leaf, wood,
steel and iron on canvas glued on board,
ceramics, 187 x 190 x 35 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, Berlin
Photo © Michele Alberto Serini
Studio, 1999
Salt, wax and iron on paper on board
41 x 50,4 x 10 cm
Courtesy Repetto Gallery
Concetto spaziale, 1957
Graffiti, holes, ink and aniline on canvas paper, 65 x 80 cm
Courtesy Repetto Gallery
Untitled, 2022
Lacquer and metal leaf on panel, 122 x 122 cm
Courtesy Ronchini
Salvatore Astore
Anatomia Umana, 2023
Stainless steel, 100 x 75 x 20 cm
Courtesy the artiste and Mazzoleni, London, Turin
There is so much we can learn from the sun, 2024
Collage and silver leaf on paper, 50 x 70 cm
Courtesy the artist and Mazzoleni, London, Turin
Officina Arte Ducati Award
Ducati confirms the Officina Arte Ducati Award, linked to Percorso, the itinerary that thematically connects a selection of galleries exhibiting at the fair. The format's new theme for 2025 - on which the partnership with Ducati is renewed - is the idea of "Community," as expressed by the sentence "Community: not "I" but "we." As in the previous edition, the jury will assign the Award to the work that best expresses Ducati’s brand values: speed, design research, innovation.
The wining work will become part of the corporate collection in Borgo Panigale, supported by the Fondazione Ducati, which, including through its involvement in Arte Fiera, confirms its commitment to the public by promoting numerous cultural, educational, and social initiatives.
The jury is composed of Stefano Tarabusi, Design Manager Ducati Motor Holding; Andrea Bruciati, Director of Istituto Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este, Tivoli; Valentina Rossi, art historian, curator and lecturer.
Untitled, 2023-2024
Acrylic, paper, ink, 100% cotton, coffee arounds,
Bologna chalk on linen, 222 x 244 cm
Unique work
Courtesy the artist and P420, Bologna
Photo © Carlo Favero
Veglia, 2023
Glazed ceramic and gold, 22 x 60 x 42 cm
Courtesy the artist and P420, Bologna
Photo © Carlo Favero
Gone Gone, 2024
Ice-white onyx, 121 x 26 x 45 cm
Courtesy Thomas Brambilla
The Gods: Artemis, 2023
Oil on linen, 244 x 183 cm
Courtesy Galleria Giorgio Persano
Photo Nicola Morittu
No title, 2022
Acrylic on canvas, 300 x 150 cm
Courtesy Galleria Giorgio Persano
Photo Nicola Morittu
Osvaldo Licini by Fainplast Award
The Osvaldo Licini by Fainplast Award stems from an idea by the Picena Contemporary Art Association with the collaboration of the City of Ascoli Piceno and the Fainplast Group.
The award is dedicated to Italian painting, with a selection method that involves about forty contemporary art professionals, including curators, critics, collectors, museum directors, and journalists, each of whom are requested to provide the name of two artists. In 2025, one of the five finalists will be chosen from the Pittura XXI section of Arte Fiera by a jury composed of Roberta Faraotti, collector; Bernardo Follini, Senior Curator Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin; Pier Paolo Pancotto, independent curator.
Cassetta, 2023
Bronze, 63 x 31 x 45 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Albisola
Broken circus, 2023
Oil on canvas, 95 x 141 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Albisola
Di Canio, 2024
Oil on canvas, 115 x 165 cm
Courtsy Ronchini
Sitzung, 59, 2023
Alpi Veneer, 82,5 x 67,5 x 50 cm
Courtesy Galleria Franco Noero
Energy Tastes The Same, 2023
Bronze powder, epoxy resin, 10 x 10 x 2 cm
Courtesy the artist and Galleria Fonti, Naples
Photo Amedeo Benestante
Pino (model 8), 2024
Designed by Jimmie Duhram for LABINAC
Resin, bronze, steel, 41,5 x 69 x 52,5 cm
Courtesy Galleria Sprovieri
Righi Collection Award
The aim of the Righi Collection Award, in its third edition in 2025, is to acquire a work at Arte Fiera that will be added to the collections of MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, with specific focus on the work of recent generations of Italian artists.
Currently consisting of over a thousand works of the highest quality, the Righi Collection is one of Italy’s largest private collections of contemporary art.
The jury is composed of Lorenzo Balbi, Artistic Director of MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna; Andrea Viliani, Director of Museo delle Civiltà, Rome; Bart van der Heide, Director of Museion - Museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea di Bolzano.
Rotary Award
Now in its 13th consecutive edition, the Rotary Award is presented to the most creative installation at Arte Fiera 2025, whether a creation by an artist or the overall setup of a stand.
The Award consists of the Rotary Award Arte Fiera 2025 to gallery, Special Rotaract Bologna Award, and the Special “Andrea Sapone” award by Rotary Club Bologna Valle del Samoggia.
The jury is composed of Davide Daninos, curator, critic, and Art Programme Leader, Marangoni Institute Florence; Giacomo Fontana, Chairman of Rotary Club Bologna Valle del Samoggia; Maura Pozzati, art critic and teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna; Leonardo Regano, art historian and independent curator; Matteo Zauli, Director of Museo Carlo Zauli, Faenza.
I Am Hymns of The New Temple:
Pompeii Ceramic amphora #01, 2023
Courtesy the artist and
Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan, Naples
Camouflage Natter pixel grigi, 2019
Installation (resine plane, 4 multilayer wood panels
painted in gray tones of acrylic)
208 x 208 x 40 cm (overal measurement);
100,5 x 66 x 35 cm (plane)
104 x 104 x 2 cm (each of 4 panels)
Courtesy Galleria Enrico Astuni
Photo Yosuke Kojima
Untitled, 2020
Plastic-coated photographic print
on aluminium, 180 x 150 cm
Courtesy the artist and
Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, Berlin
Tout le monde se fout des fleurs, 2024
View of the exhibition, Vistamare, Pescara
Courtesy the artist and Vestamare, Milan, Pescara
Photo Roberta Verzella
The Collectors.Chain Prize by Art Defender
With The Collectors.Chain Prize, now in its 4th edition, Art Defender confirms its collaboration with Arte Fiera as well as its special relationship with photography. This year as well, the winning work, selected from those exhibited in the Photography and Moving Images section, will become part of Art Defender’s corporate collection, emphasizing the company’s dedication to collecting and to photography in particular.
The jury, composed exclusively of collectors, will once again be chaired by Walter Guadagnini, an internationally recognized photography expert. Together with Chiara Massimello and Katia Da Ros, collectors, and with Rischa Paterlini, independent curator, Guadagnini will select the work that best interprets the history of photography in terms of either continuity or innovation.
