As Italy’s far-right politicians pursue a nationalist “Italians First” agenda, and foreign-born museum directors wait to see if they will still have jobs at the end of this year, miart 2019, the country’s preeminent art fair, has a higher international profile than ever before.
The Milan fair released its exhibitor list yesterday (January 22) for its next edition, which takes place from April 5 to 7. And despite the resurgent nationalist sentiment in the European nation, international heavyweights have not been deterred from joining the fair. Hauser & Wirth, Marian Goodman Gallery, and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac are eye-catching, first-time additions to the roster of 186 galleries from 19 countries.
“Milan is now an international city with an extremely diverse population and miart reflects its profoundly inclusive nature,” fair director Alessandro Rabottini tells artnet News. “Therefore, I believe that we are in a position to explore not only the many manifestations of artistic production from the point of view of the market (which is what we do) but, also, its cultural and social impact, and its transformative power.”
“Hauser & Wirth has a deep-rooted and ongoing commitment to Italy,” Iwan Wirth tells artnet News. “We are joining miart this year to increase our involvement with the art scene and because many of our artists will also have major presence with a number of museum projects taking place in Milan’s institutions.”
The mega gallery represents the estates of Fabio Mauri, Piero Manzoni, and Fausto Melotti, which Wirth says has “solidified our passion for Italian art.” Hauser & Wirth artists with exhibitions in Italy this year include Anna Maria Maiolino, Lygia Pape, and Allan Kaprow.
View from miart 2018.
London’s Corvi-Mora and Cabinet are also joining this year, while other foreign dealers, such as Gladstone Gallery from New York and Brussels, Isabella Bortolozzi from Berlin, and Richard Saltoun plan to return (Saltoun has confirmed it will be showing a group of artists who challenge notions of gender in their practice). In total, there will be 72 international participants at the fair. Galleria Continua, Italy’s most international gallery with spaces in Beijing, Havana, Les Moulins and San Gimignano, also returns to miart.
Like other art fairs, miart 2019 has responded to criticism that while the biggest dealers get richer, smaller and mid-sized galleries are being squeezed. Booths in the “Emergent” section dedicated to young galleries presenting emerging artists are 30 percent lower than the main section.
As usual, there will be a strong showing by Italian galleries at miart. As artnet News’s columnist Kenny Schachter remarked in his colorful review of the fair last year, Italy has an impressively large local crop of galleries (he counted more than a hundred). That number has grown to 114 this year.
The fair continues to be a place to see a wide breadth of works, ranging from emerging contemporary art to Modern masters within its seven sections. In the section called “Generations,” eight eras of Italian art will be on view in close proximity; Italian abstract painter Piero Dorazio, whose work was related to the Color Field movement, will be at Milanese gallery Tega, contemporary rising stars such as the figurative painter Patrizio di Massimo, will be presented by T293 from Rome.
An artwork of Eva Kot’atkova at miart 2018. Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images.
Here is the full list of exhibitors who are heading to miart 2019:
10 A.M. Art, Milan | A Arte Invernizzi, Milan | Acappella, Naples | acb, Budapest | ADA, Rome | Apalazzogallery, Brescia | Alfonso Artiaco, Naples | Enrico Astuni, Bologna | Alessandro Bagnai, Foiano della Chiana | Balcony, Lisbon | Maria Bernheim, Zurich | Giovanni Bonelli, Milan | Alessandra Bonomo, Rome | Bortolami, New York | Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin | Thomas Brambilla, Bergamo | C+N Canepaneri, Milan – Genova | Ca’ di Fra’, Milan | Cabinet, London | Campoli Presti, London – Paris | Car Drde, Bologna | Cardelli & Fontana, Sarzana | Cardi, Milan – London | Casoli De Luca, Rome | ChertLüdde, Berlin | Elisabetta Cipriani Wearable Art, London | Clearing, Brussels – New York – Brooklyn | Clima, Milan | Luciano Colantonio, Brescia | Conceptual, Milan | Contini Galleria d’Arte, Venice – Cortina d’Ampezzo – Mestre | Galleria Continua, San Gimignano – Beijing – Les Moulins –L’Avana| Copetti Antiquari, Udine | Raffaella Cortese, Milan | Cortesi, Lugano – Londra – Milan | Corvi-Mora, London | Damien & The Love Guru, Brussels | Thomas Dane Gallery, London | Monica De Cardenas, Milan – Zuoz – Lugano | Massimo De Carlo, Milan – London – Hong Kong | de’ Foscherari, Bologna | Galleria Luisa Delle Piane, Milan | Dellupi Arte, Milan | Dep Art, Milan | Deweer, Otegem | Tiziana Di Caro, Naples | Diehl, Berlin | Dimoregallery, Milan | Dvir Gallery, Brussels – Tel Aviv | Eastwards Prospectus, Bucarest | Edel Assanti, London | Eidos Immagini Contemporanee, Asti | Erastudio Apartment-Gallery, Milan | Eredi Marelli, Cantù | Ex Elettrofonica, Rome | Renata Fabbri, Milan | Frediano Farsetti, Milan | Galleri Feldt, Copenhagen | Francisco Fino, Lisbon | MLF|Marie-Laure Fleisch, Brussels | Frittelli, Florence | Fumagalli, Milan | FuoriCampo, Siena | Galerie21, Livorno | Galeriepcp, Paris | Galleria dello Scudo, Verona | Gallleriapiù, Bologna | Gariboldi, Milan | Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna | Gladstone Gallery, New York – Brussels | Galleria Gomiero, Milan | Marian Goodman Gallery, New York – Paris – London | Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong – London – Los Angeles – New York – Somerset – St. Moritz – Gstaad – Zurich | Häusler Contemporary, Monaco – Zurich – Lustenau | Galerie Marc Heiremans, Anversa | Herald St, London | Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf | Horizont, Budapest | Éric Hussenot, Paris | Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels| Kalfayan Galleries, Athens – Thessaloniki Kaufmann Repetto, Milan – New York | Peter Kilchmann, Zurich | Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York | Matteo Lampertico, Milan | Frank Landau / Thomas Ekström, Frankfurt | Gilda Lavia, Rome | Lelong & Co., Paris – New York | Antoine Levi, Paris | Levy.Delval, Brussels | Loom, Milan | Lorenzelli Arte, Milan | Federico Luger, Milan | Lulu, Mexico City | M77, Milan | Maab, Milan – Padova | Madragoa, Lisbon | Magazzino, Rome | Maggiore G.A.M., Bologna – Paris – Milan | Mai 36, Zurich | Norma Mangione, Turin | Gió Marconi, Milan | Primo Marella Gallery, Milan | Martini & Ronchetti, Genova | Mazzoleni, London – Turin | Francesca Minini, Milan | Massimo Minini, Brescia | Monitor, Rome – Lisbon | Montrasio Arte, Monza – Milan | Nome, Berlin | Office Baroque, Brussels | Officine dell’Immagine, Milan | Officine Saffi, Milan | Öktem Aykut, Istanbul | Open Art, Prato | Osart, Milan | Otto Gallery, Bologna | Otto Zoo, Milan | P420, Bologna | Paci Contemporary, Brescia | Galleria Pack, Milan | Francesco Pantaleone, Palermo – Milan | Nicola Pedana, Caserta | Gregor Podnar, Berlin | Poggiali, Florence – Milan – Pietrasanta | Polansky, Prague – Brno | Il Ponte, Florence | Progettoarte-Elm, Milan | Prometeogallery, Milan – Lucca | Erica Ravenna, Rome | Allegra Ravizza, Lugano – Honolulu | RCM Galerie, Parigs | Almine Rech, Paris – Brussels – London – New York | Repetto Gallery, London | Revolver, Lima – Buenos Aires | Anthony Reynolds, London | Ribot, Milan | Michela Rizzo, Venice | Rizzutogallery, Palermo | Robilant+Voena, London – Milan – St. Moritz | Ronchini, London | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris – London – Salzburg | Lia Rumma, Milan – Naples | Russo, Rome | Tucci Russo, Torre Pellice | Richard Saltoun, London | Federica Schiavo, Milan – Rome | Mimmo Scognamiglio, Milan | Eduardo Secci, Florence | (S)itor / Sitor Senghor, Paris | Smac, Cape Town – Johannesburg – Stellenbosch | Società di Belle Arti, Viareggio | Soda, Bratislava | Galleria Spazia, Bologna | SpazioA, Pistoia | Gian Enzo Sperone, Sent – New York | Sprovieri, London | Stems, Brussels – Luxembourg| Studio d’Arte Campaiola, Rome | Studio Dabbeni, Lugano | Studio G7, Bologna | Studio Guastalla, Milan | Studio Guenzani, Milan | Studio Marconi ‘65, Milan | Studio SALES di Norberto Ruggeri, Rome | Studio Trisorio, Naples | T293, Rome | Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna | Taste Contemporary, Geneva | Tega, Milan | The Sunday Painter, London | Galleria Tonelli, Milan – Porto Cervo | Tornabuoni Arte, Florence – Milan – Paris – London | Una, Piacenza | Veda, Florence | Galleria Antonio Verolino, Modena | Paola Verrengia, Salerno | Vin Vin, Vienna | Vistamare – Vistamarestudio, Pescara – Milan | Wilde, Geneva – Carouge/ Acacias | Hubert Winter, Vienna | Z2o Sara Zanin, Rome | Zero…, Milan