Bologna, from Jan. 31 the seventh edition of SetUp Contemporary Art Fair at Palazzo Pallavicini

The seventh edition of SetUp Contemporary Art Fair, a fair dedicated toemerging contemporary art, organized by Simona Gavioli, will be held from January 31 to February 3, 2019, at Palazzo Pallavicini in Bologna. The event, which together with many others will enliven Bologna’sArt week, is presented with an edition that intends to involve an increasingly wide audience. This year’s format calls for exhibitors to propose a curatorial project with a maximum of artists under 35 presented in turn by a critical text by a curator under 35: the 2019 edition wants to emphasize individual artists in order to create targeted focuses that allow collectors and enthusiasts to enjoy a high quality artistic offer.

The theme chosen for 2019 is Ithaca. Ithaca is the Island of Odysseus, the end of his adventures, the engine of his travels, where Penelope “with an iron heart” awaits him, but also the island whose path becomes a destination. SetUp takes on Ithaca as a metaphor for itself, since the fair wants to see itself as an island that attracts the sailors of art: “a port,” reads the presentation, “where artists, gallery owners, collectors and enthusiasts land, mixing languages, cultures and dreams, to build together the memory of the future, to imagine the world that will be a home in which we are all home.”

This year there will be 25 galleries, including 22 from Italy and 3 from abroad (from the U.S., France and Spain), and the scientific committee will consist of Silvia Evangelisti, critic, art historian and curator; Camilla and Giovanni Scarzella, collectors and members of the GaMeC Space Club; Chiara Caliceti, collector; and Rocco Guglielmo, collector and artistic director of the Marca Museum and the Rocco Guglielmo Foundation in Catanzaro. Three prizes will be awarded: the SetUp 2019 Prize, dedicated to the artist who has best explored the theme of the fair; the Tiziano Campolmi Prize, for the best project in the field of photography; and the A.T. Cross Company Prize for Art, for the best artist whose work is created on SMLT brand paper.

There are several new features at SetUp 2019: the OFF Projects section within the fair will present photographer Luca Maria Castelli’s project, Exegesis of Freedom, curated by Maria Letizia Tega. Luca Maria Castelli’s photographs portray a modern Penelope, who, today as then, lives with contradictions. The images that will be exhibited in the Chapel of Palazzo Pallavicini are words in a script, semantically linked but semiotically independent: each shot is a narrative in itself, living its own life but the overall reading describes the strong fragility of ’eros. Again, for the first time at the fair, there will be a video/installations section with the exhibition ISLANDERS curated by Manuela Valentini, who, following the fil rouge of Ithaca, has invited three artists from as many islands, washed by different seas. Among the projects, inside the fair and chosen by SetUp’s curatorial staff, will be a site-specific work by Ravenna-based artist Caterina Morigi. Caterina Morigi’s installations, videos, and photographic prints guide attention to microscopic details belonging to the sphere of the real; to ignite unexpected points of light, the sources from which she draws concern the past, the history of art and architecture, relating to the present like an archaeologist of contemporaneity. Also in the OFF Projects section, Barbara Baroncini will present a work that consists of a video installation with video and sound. The video will show many shots of her hands, taken from above, as they are rolling a long strip of clay laid on a lawn. During the action of rolling, the fresh clay “holds” onto itself what it encounters along the way. What distinguishes the work is the ’misuse of the material: the clay sculpture is not thought of as sculpture but is used in the process, as an i ntegrating part of the performative action. Among the events at the fair, on Saturday, Feb. 2, there will be a national premiere of the performance I(m)SOLA by Marina Visentini and Elena Copelli, created in collaboration with Teatro Magro of Mantova, a landmark of Italian experimental theater, and conceived specifically for SetUp with the intention of narrating the island as a “place of transformation” (invitation/request only). In addition, a rich program of panel discussions will be presented by the Rocco Guglielmo Foundation and the Brand Museum of Catanzaro, curated by Simona Caramia, with a number of experts and prominent personalities who will address the issue of borders, analyzing multiple perspectives through an interdisciplinary approach. During the days of the Fair, Curator-tours will be organized among the stands led by young curators and guided tours to discover Palazzo Pallavicini with art historian Nicola Zanotti.

Finally, SetUp Plus , the platform of active events during the art week organized by the Fair, returns again for the 7th edition with the aim of involving the city of Bologna and all the realities interested in bringing their gallery, association, exhibition space to life with exhibitions and projects.

SetUp opens Jan. 31 from 8 p.m. to midnight, Feb. 1 from 4 p.m. to midnight, Feb. 2 from 3 p.m. to midnight, and Feb. 3 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission costs 10 euros (free for children under 7). For info, visit www.setupcontemporaryart.com.

Bologna, from Jan. 31 the seventh edition of SetUp Contemporary Art Fair at Palazzo Pallavicini

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