After the summer break, there are various new exhibitions in Bologna on view. There are different artists with diverse techniques and subjects. Nevertheless, the exhibitions have in common that they invite to pause and to contemplate the objects to discover them deeply. Goethe-Zentrum: Bauhaus Reloaded 1919-2019: Architettura Bauhaus 1919-1933 Spazio Testoni: Human Places Magma… (read more)
Biennale Arte 2019 11 May – 24 November 2019 www.labiennale.org The 58th Venice Biennale is titled “May You Live In Interesting Times”, mistakenly interpreted as a Chinese curse, evoking to the opponent a challenging and menacing life. Ralph Rugoff himself assigned the title not only to artworks, which “reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today”,… (read more)
Contemporanea 2 Via Ugo Foscolo 6, Florence, Italy www.c2contemporanea2.com 23 July – 31 August 2019 Once again, Antonio Lo Pinto invited an external gallerist to curate an exhibition in his Florence based gallery Contemporanea 2. This time Didier Devillez came from Brussels and brought oeuvres by the Canadian, in Tokyo based photographer and filmmaker Tim… (read more)
On June 21st 2019, the German painter, ceramist and object maker Jürgen Waller celebrated his 80th birthday. Nearly a month later, three exhibitions in his adopted hometown opened its doors to honour the long-standing rector of the University of Fine Arts in Bremen. Additionally, the Kunsthalle Bremen opened an anniversary show already on June 4th…. (read more)
Galleria Enrico Astuni Via Iacopo Barozzi 3, Bologna www.galleriaastuni.net 25 May – 28 September 2019 Summer break in August In his solo exhibition, Where do we go from here? in the Bolognese Galleria Enrico Astuni, Christian Jankowski questions about the relation between artist and audience, both, in the traditional physical contact and the virtual way… (read more)
17 – 22 June 2019 (the gallery exhibitions remain longer open) As every year, the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna goes on tour. Besides a programme of events, performances and special exhibitions in Bolognese institutions, the students of the Academy of Fine Arts show their works in galleries throughout the city. All the exhibitions… (read more)
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna Sala delle Ciminiere Via Don Minzoni 14, Bologna www.mambo-bologna.org 8 June – 8 September 2019 With the exhibition Julian Charrière. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere. the MAMbo invites the visitors to plunge into the submarine world and to pop up from time to time to… (read more)
To start the 58th Venice Biennale, the curator Ralph Rugoff, conceals the entrance of the Central Pavilion with clouds of fog by Lara Favaretto (Thinking Head). The vapour makes not only disappear the building, but is also the expression for smoking brains of thinkers in an undisclosed location. Veiling, disappearance as well as making things… (read more)
Fieramilanocity, Viale Scarampo, gate 5 pad 3, Milano, Italy www.miart.it During four days (4 – 7 April), 185 international art galleries from 18 countries plus Italy met in Milan. It was a broad spectrum of artworks from the beginning last century up to our contemporary present creations. Traditionally subdivided in the sections Established Masters, Established… (read more)
From 22 to 25 March The Mall in the Milanese quarter of Porta Nuova Varesine was the platform for the ninth edition of the MIA PHOTO FAIR. This Italian art fair is dedicated to photography and moving image, however it was dominated by still pictures. The 135 exhibitors outlined a wide-ranging insight into the… (read more)
BolognaFiere Piazza Costituzione Bologna www.artefiera.it 1 – 4 February 2019 The 43rd edition of the longest running art fair in Italy, was for the first time guided by its new artistic director Simone Menegoi. Even though, he had only six months to prepare the exhibition, he succeeded to give a new momentum to attract… (read more)
In the following, there are three main projects on focus. Leandro Erlich fetched some clouds down from the sky and Michele Spanghero invited to a cinematic sound installation in a subterranean historic movie theatre. Eduard Habicher showed the lightweight of steel. Leandro Erlich: Collection de Nuages Michele Spanghero: AGAIN ANEW – Before the film… (read more)
The new exhibition space DAS opened at the right time for the Arte City. Its first exhibition showed contemporary local and international artists, some with a glance to what might be upcoming in this place. Guido Segni at Adiacenze considered how artworks could be conceived in the era of automation of work. Rob Chavasse focussed… (read more)
The installation “Transboundary #4” by Betty Zanelli seems to treat migratory movements of birds of passage. Nevertheless, it is also about barriers which exclude people. Whereas Giovanni de Gara wants to encourage a reflection about welcoming with “Eldorato”. At the association “L’Altro Spazio” we experienced living inclusion and the artist Fabrizio Tartari. With the exhibition… (read more)
Bologna’s Arte City 2019 had just ended. Fortunately, some exhibitions still remain open for a while. Overall, there were over 100 events mentioned in the official programme of the Institution Bologna Musei, thereof 17 curated projects and a special event. This was the performance “les gens d’Unterpan”, where the audience was invited to participate. Moreover,… (read more)
For the 7th edition the SetUp Contemporary Art Fair, around Simona Gavioli had chosen the theme “Ithaca”. 25 galleries, thereof four non-Italian, presented artworks with a focus on the mystical island, home of Odysseus, before and after his 20 years enduring absence, described by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey. By his journeys, the… (read more)
Traditionally, the end of January and the first days in February in Bologna, Italy, are dominated by a huge offer of artistic events. This year, more and more exhibitions started earlier, so that we can talk of a real art week around the oldest Italian art fair. Besides the ARTE FIERA (1 – 4 February… (read more)
January We started 2018 with the diptych “Ouagadougou/New York” by Joana Choumali, where the artist from the Ivory Coast, reflects about the impact of migration in the home and the arrival countries. Moreover, we visited the exhibition “Art x Cuba. Contemporary Perspectives since 1989” in the Aachen Ludwig Forum für… (read more)
In June 2018, Giovanni de Gara started his project “Eldorato”, for which he covers church doors with golden thermal blankets all over Italy. The objective of the project is, to encourage a deep reflexion about the subject of welcome towards every individual person, without distinction of race, gender, faith, to give a sign of warmth… (read more)
The current exhibitions for the season start are naturally various: by age and origin of the artists, techniques and intensions and depending on the type of gallery. Nevertheless, there are some formal or thematic links between some shows. At the end of this article, you’ll find a list of several Bolognese exhibitions, a lot with… (read more)
On the newest generation of artists in Italy and one meter and eighty from the border. MAMbo (Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna) Sala delle Ciminiere Via Don Minzoni 14 Bologna www.mambo-bologna.org 22 June – 11 November 2018 On 21 June, the MAMbo opened this year’s summer exhibition “That’s IT!”. The show is the first… (read more)
18 – 23 June 2018 Accademia di Belle Arti & many places in the city www.ababo.it By now in its fourth edition, the Bolognese Academy of Fine Arts opens its doors for the public. Moreover, the students leave their educational terrain. Besides the events and performances organised in the traditional walls, numerous students worked with… (read more)
MAMbo – Project Room 25 May – 16 September 2018 www.mambo-bologna.org In May 2018 the MAMbo (Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna) opened the exhibition “Rosanna Chiessi. Pari&Dispari” in its Project Room. This Project Room is dedicated to point on artists and art actors with an anchoring in the region, but not only. The choice of Rosanna… (read more)
13 – 15 April 2018 fieramilanocity, Milan www.miart.it The 23rd edition of the Milano art fair grew – in comparison to the preceding show – by ten galleries. There were 184 galleries from 19 countries, presented in eight sections. Besides the established and emergent galleries and artists, two departments are particularly interesting. “Decades” offer a… (read more)
Contemporanea 2, Florence, Italy www.c2contemporanea2.com 12 – 27 April 2018 For the exhibition, “Fil Rouge” the Florence gallerist Antonio Lo Pinto invited Elyse Galiano and Donatella Lombardo, two artists with different backgrounds. However, there are common things in the works of both. Formally, the two artists are using – inter alia – textile and thread…. (read more)
Galleria P420, Bologna, Italy http://p420.it 07 April – 02 June 2018 The exhibition “Hypothesis on Infinity” questions about the possibility to extend time into eternity. In addition, spatial borders are another subject. On a whole, the show is a time journey into the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Italian artist Laura Grisi was… (read more)
Palazzo Pallavicini, Bologna, Italy www.palazzopallavicini.com 3 March – 27 May 2018 The Palazzo Pallavicini just opened an exhibition dedicated to Vivian Maier (1926-2009). This American photographer is for several reasons exceptional. First of all, her official profession was not photographer, but nanny. This autodidact shot over 120.000 photos. None of them was ever published… (read more)
During the weekend of the ARTE FIERA in Bologna, there are many artistic initiatives to welcome visitors and local residents. The range is huge from classical panel painting to installation, film projection and performance. Every art lover might find something interesting. In the following, we present our impressions of 28 events. They are sorted by… (read more)
The 34 galleries represented at this year’s SetUp showed a huge range of the contemporary art production. There were paintings, sculptures, photos and installations from traditional to experimental and from figurative to abstract. Some works were conceptual; others more decorative and still others had a surrealist touch. Several oeuvres used pre-existing objects, changed their appearance… (read more)
In the following, we will present ten galleries, which attracted our attention by a particular curating of the booth. Some are notable, because of their choice of harmonising artists and others by their orchestration. Furthermore, at the end, there is a photo series of interesting outlooks and remarkable single works. 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS,… (read more)
At the first weekend of February, numerous art events took place in Bologna, Italy. Besides the 42nd edition of the ARTE FIERA as point of departure, there were the SetUp Contemporary Art Fair and the Fruit Exhibition. But that is not all: by tradition, there are many other events throughout the city. The ARTE FIERA… (read more)
(Kunst x Kuba. Zeitgenössische Positionen seit 1989) 8 September 2017 – 18 February 2018 Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Jülicher Str. 97-109, Aachen, Germany http://ludwigforum.de From Cuba to Germany In 1984, the first “Havana Biennale” took place and attracted the attention of the western art world to Caribbean and Latin American art. Six years… (read more)
In our third year online, we had once again ten artworks of the month, some a little bit older, some brand-new. Even though Bolognese exhibitions were on focus, we had the occasion to visit some exhibitions and art fairs outside the city. Moreover, we went to the Venice Biennale, the Florence Biennale and the… (read more)
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna 12 Decemebre 2017 – 13 May 2018 https://mostrarevolutija.it/en/ Just in time, at the end of the commemoration of 100 years of the October Revolution, the Bolognese Museum of Modern Art opens the exhibition “Revolutija: from Chagall to Malevich, from Repin to Kandinsky”. Even though, the show is initiated on… (read more)
From 12 October to 19 November 2017, the third Biennale Foto/Industria took place in Bologna, Italy. The MAST Foundation in cooperation with the Municipality of Bologna and local cultural institutions like museums and exhibition spaces, as well as the University of Bologna and other foundations initiated the event. In 2013, the Foto/Industria was organised for… (read more)
Coming from painting and sculpture, the constructivist Alexander Rodchenko stood for the incorporation of arts into daily life. Therefore, in 1920s he was occupied with graphic, design and handicraft. At that time, he also started to experiment with photomontages using pre-existing pictures, inspired by the German Dadaists. Soon, in 1924 he started himself to take… (read more)
After his studies of photography, Lee Friedlander took black and white photos from street scenes, Jazz musicians, landscapes and much more. So he became known as a chronicler of the American everyday life. His style is recognised as “social landscapes”. From 1979 to 1995, he shot various series of industrial work. Within 16 years, he… (read more)
Today well-known for his architectural, archaeological and landscape photography, Mimmo Jodice made first paintings and drawings, but was as well interested in arts in general, classical music and jazz. In the 1960s, he discovered his passion for photography and experimented with materials and forms to question the possibilities of photographical languages and techniques. Collaborating with… (read more)
Beginning his photographical career with theatre reports besides his engineering studies at the Czech Technical University, Josef Koudelka became known for his photos of the Soviet invasion in Prague in August 1968. Even though these images were published anonymously by Magnum, he decided to immigrate and started to work for the famous agency in 1971…. (read more)
The 57th Venice Biennale is coming towards its end, an occasion to review three national contributions in the Giardini and the Arsenale. In the Italian Pavilion there are three artists approaching our common memory and present in a magical way. Whereas Geoffrey Farmer in the Canadian Pavilion targets his personal history with a glance to… (read more)
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Bolivia, Ivory Coast and Guatemala Besides the main exhibition and the national pavilions in the Giardini and the Arsenale, there are many exhibitions throughout the city. Interesting are often the national participations of countries beyond the traditional canon. They have no fixed building in the Giardini, since they are mostly… (read more)
“eARTh: creativity and sustainability” was the theme of this year’s Florence Biennale. It took place from October 6th to 15th and was located in the Padiglione Spadoli in the Fortezza da Basso (part of the Firenzefiera). There were 462 artists, coming from 72 countries. The 20-year-old institution sees herself as an independent platform of the… (read more)
Inaugurated during the last two weeks, there are eight new exhibitions on view. They differ in the subject as well as in the presented techniques like painting, video and installation. Despite the variety, journeys in unknown worlds, sound and erotic are recurring elements. Matteo Tenardi – Luoghi Instabili* * La deriva delle cose e… (read more)
8 April 2017 – 28 January 2018 Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci Viale della Repubblica, 277, Prato, Italy http://centropecci.it With the exhibition “From the Cavern to the Moon” the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci and the curator Stefano Pezzato invite the visitor to make a journey through the collection purchased since 1988… (read more)
13 May – 26 November 2017 In our first article, we focussed on the structure of the main exhibition “VIVA ARTE VIVA” of the 57. Biennale di Venezia. Now we like to present three of the 86 National Participations that refer in one or the other way to space. British Pavilion Phyllida Barlow: folly… (read more)
L’orMa (in civil life Lorenzo Mariani), is a young emerging Italian artist, living and working in Milan. In January 2016 he won the Premio Gruppo Euromobil – Under 30 at the Bolognese art fair ARTE FIERA. Later in the year, the Arteam Cup, honoured him in the category “Over 30”. Part of this prize was an… (read more)
From the outside, the Palazzo Pallavicini is rather inconspicuous: bricks and arcades are no rarity in Bologna. Only the size and the prominent balcony are giving a hint that the building might have some importance. Many Bolognese people and visitors might have passed thoughtless. They will be surprised to learn about the inside and the… (read more)
24 – 27 Mai 2017 Via Tanari Vecchia 5/a Bologna http://gelateriasognidighiaccio.com www.facebook.com/gelateriasognidighiaccio In May 2017, the artist-run art space “Gelateria Sogni Di Ghiaccio” in Bologna presented the group exhibition “Family Matters”. For this purpose, eleven Bolognese artists from different generations reflected the subject in their means of artistic expression. However, the concept of “Family matters”… (read more)
13 May – 26 November 2017 On Saturday the 13th of May the 57th Biennale of Venice opened. The artistic director Christine Macel united 120 artists from 51 countries for the main exhibition under the title “VIVA ARTE VIVA” subdivided in nine sections. Moreover, there are 86 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the… (read more)
26 – 29 April 2017 Founded in 1967 by two Cologne based gallerists Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner, the Art Cologne is considered as the world’s oldest still existing art fair. Despite its changeful history regarding the name and the location, the Art Cologne celebrated this year its 50th birthday. Originally called “Kölner Kunstmarkt”… (read more)
