Alessandro Rabottini.
Photo: Mark Blower courtesy of Fiera Milano.

Following the departure of artistic director Vincenzo de Bellis, the Milan International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art (miart) has appointed Alessandro Rabottini to fill the vacancy. He’s already updated his title on Instagram.

After four years at the helm of miart, outgoing artistic director de Bellis is leaving to become visual art curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. During his tenure, de Bellis transformed the event from a fair attracting mostly local exhibitors dealing in the secondary market, to a vibrant and exciting fixture on an already-busy European art calendar.

Having worked with de Bellis since 2012, Rabottini was instrumental in supporting the fair’s transformation, first as curatorial coordinator for the 2013-2015 editions, and then as deputy director for the 2016 edition.

Installation view of Rirkrit Tiravanija and Korakrit Arunanondchai at Then/Now, Miart 2016.
Photo: Andrea Rossetti, Courtesy Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Clearing.

“It is a great responsibility to inherit a project so full of different voices, perspectives and potentialities,” Rabottini says in the press release, noting “I hope to continue to develop the context with which the fair, at this point, is identified: a place of quality and discovery, a crossroads of dialogues between history and experimentation, visual art and design, tradition and innovation.”

Rabottini has years of experience at Italian institutions, so the transition shouldn’t be too bumpy. He spent 11 years at the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo, from 2001 to 2012, and was subsequently curator at large at MADRE Donnaregina Museum of Contemporary Art in Naples from 2012 to 2015, where he organized several important shows featuring international artists including Walid Raad, Pietro Roccosalva, Sterling Ruby, and others.