Artissima changes its face and becomes "unplugged." Here's what the fair will look like this year

As had already been announced in early October, this year Artissima, the major contemporary art fair, will not be held in its traditional form, at the Oval in Turin. In fact, at the beginning of October, the organization had decided to change the formula due to the continuing need for health care, proposing a program of events produced in collaboration with Fondazione Torino Musei and digital projects to be inaugurated on the same dates originally planned for Artissima, namely Nov. 5-8. In the past few hours, Artissima has dissolved all reservations and announced what the 2020 edition of the fair will be like: that is, it will be a new " Unplugged“ version, a kind of ”acoustic version" of the fair that focuses on the instrument (the works) and the voice (the galleries).

The fair therefore reinvents itself, and it does so by bringing with it the investments in digital that began in 2017 and the experience accumulated through the organization of several collateral exhibitions in Turin. There will be, for starters, three new exhibition projects in as many museums (the GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, the Museo Civico d’Arte Antica di Palazzo Madama, and the MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale), from November 7, 2020 to January 9, 2021: all three projects share the theme Stasi Frenetica and are curated by Artissima director Ilaria Bonacossa. And again, there will be the launch of Artissima XYZ, an unprecedented online platform that transforms the traditional sections of the fair into an immersive digital experience. So the fair goes online, and it does so with the Present Future sections, curated by Ilaria Gianni and Fernanda Brenner, Back to the Future, curated by Lorenzo Giusti and Mouna Mekouar, and Drawings, curated by Letizia Ragaglia and Bettina Steinbrügge.

Let’s look at the projects in detail. The three museums of the Fondazione Torino Musei will host a corpus of works by the galleries selected for this edition of the fair: a sort of cross-section of what the public would find in the stands, on the theme of Frenetic States, that is, an invitation to reflect on the idea of acceleration as opposed to inertia and on the increasingly urgent need to change our paradigms and search for possible answers to the current crisis. Answers that could and should also be suggested by a profound and thoughtful cultural and social evolution conveyed by art, which has always been a witness to past histories and civilizations and at the same time a catalyst for the most innovative visions. It is a theme at the center of the most current debates that also represents an interesting key to interpreting the past months, characterized by the alternation of different modes of lockdown. Thus, in the three museums there will be a distillation of the historical sections of Artissima, namely the Main Section, which brings together the most representative galleries of the international scene, New Entries, dedicated to emerging galleries, and Dialogue/Monologue, which hosts galleries with an experimental approach that intend to present the work of one artist or a dialogue between two artists.

As for Artissima XYZ, it will be an immediately approachable and easy-to-navigate platform: through a welcome page one will be able to access the three sections within which each project will have its own dedicated page, full of materials of various kinds that will investigate the work and the artist in 360° through photographs, videos and audio. The idea is to go beyond the structure of viewing rooms and digital catalogs, to instead offer fresh and experiential content that will allow for in-depth exploration of all the key players, namely the galleries, artists and curators. There will be thirty galleries bringing thirty artists, ten from each section. Evoking the axes of the Cartesian reference system, the name “XYZ” recalls the multidimensional and multimedia approach adopted by the platform, designed to return the physical experience through the virtual one. The intent is to bring the visitor to appreciate the value of the artwork not only by seeing it, but also by listening to its critical reading and discovering its creative genesis through photographic content, videos, interviews and podcasts from artists, gallerists and curators. Realized with the help of remote relationship technologies, which have become an everyday tool in the past months, some of this content will be produced directly by the galleries and artists, while others will see the editorial curatorship of the Ordet team (composed of Edoardo Bonaspetti, Stefano Cernuschi and Anna Bergamasco), which for Artissima has produced the Artissima Stories and Pills in the past years. Artissima XYZ thus aims to configure itself as a response to the limits of the health emergency and at the same time as an original experience intended for experienced collectors and those who simply want to delve into contemporary art.

“In recent months, together with my team,” says Ilaria Bonacossa, "we have worked with our usual passion on the organization of a Covid-conscious fair that could welcome galleries, the public, and partners to Turin in November in full safety and in compliance with current regulations. In a context of global uncertainty, the sudden changes of scenario and the resulting insecurity that governs the decisions of individuals forced us anon to proceed with the organization of Artissima in the canonical format. However, in order not to dissipate the work and effort put in,we imagined new exhibition and online modes to physically present art in Turin. An ’unplugged’ version of Artissima that supports in an innovative way the art system and its actors, tells and makes people discover contemporary art through the work of the Italian and international galleries that have always supported us with confidence and enthusiasm. A courageous edition, born from the collaboration with the Fondazione Torino Musei, in the forefront of culture ,and made possible thanks to the support of the City of Turin and the Piedmont Region jointly with the institutions (Fondazione CRT, Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and the Turin Chamber of Commerce). The dialogue and the willingness to work together made it possible not to give up, in such a difficult year, contemporary art together with the city’s museums and foundations.A heartfelt thanks goes to the historical and new partners who would have supported us anyway, despite the difficulties of the moment. The affection towards Artissima is tangible and we can only be honored. Finally, a special thanks goes to the Artissima team who worked tirelessly this year with expertise and determination to devise new projects together, disassembling and reassembling the fair project in response to the contingency, never ceasing to believe that we would bring our galleries to Turin."

“I would like to reassure the City Institutions, public opinion, and enthusiasts,” says Maurizio Cibrario, president of Fondazione Torino Musei: “Artissima 2020 will be held physically, albeit in a different formula, less concentrated in a few days, but spread over a wider time span. I am confident of the success of the event, which will be held in full compliance with existing health regulations. It was a difficult decision to make. Months ago, in the midst of the pandemic, we pondered for a long time what to do, knowing full well that an unforeseen cancellation of the fair for public health reasons would have entailed very costly risks. Heart over the hurdle: it was decided to go ahead for the City, for its citizens, for the workers of Artissima. Internationally recognized events of this value, which give prominence to Turin’s image in the world, cannot evaporate. Much has been done by Turin: the industrialization of the country was born here, radio and television equally, fashion, even if certain activities later continued their development elsewhere. Contemporary Art has found a fertile meeting ground here, which absolutely must be preserved. For its citizens, so that they feel the pride of being part of an industrious city full of initiatives. For the staff of Artissima, to give meaning to a year of work, carried out with passion, complicated and full of uncertainties. The formula adopted for this edition consists of an exhibition in the Foundation’s three museums (Palazzo Madama - Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, GAM - Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea and MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale) of works by artists proposed by Artissima’s partner galleries, for the duration of about two months. We felt this was a way to maintain our commitment to the City, in a version more compatible with the current pandemic situation. Now all that remains is to cut the ribbon of the 27th Edition of Artissima, with optimism and knowing that we have employed all our forces for the success of the event and to, once again, emphasize that Turin is and remains the heart of the Contemporary.”

So all that remains is to make an appointment on the Artissima website to catch up on all the news.

Artissima changes its face and becomes "unplugged." Here's what the fair will look like this year

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