Arte Fiera, Davide Ferri will be the new artistic director. He replaces Simone Menagoi

From 2026 Davide Ferri will be the new artistic director of Arte Fiera. He replaces Simone Menagoi, who has held this role since 2019 and has been joined in an unprecedented synergy by Enea Righi as director of operations for the past three years.

Davide Ferri (Forlì, 1974), art critic and independent curator, already curator in 2019 of the special project of Arte Fiera Solo figura e sfondo, and from 2020 of the Pittura XXI section, is professor of Museography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He collaborates permanently as curator with Palazzo De’ Toschi - Banca di Bologna and the Coppola Foundation in Vicenza. Since 2012 he has been curator of the Art Section of the theater festival Hyperbody. He has curated several exhibitions and projects in contemporary art galleries and museums, including Peggy Franck, In a Naked Room, Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna, 2025; Hm, He, Ha (with Elena Volpato) / Luca Bertolo, Manuele Cerutti, Pesce Khete, Michele Tocca, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, 2024; Patrick Tuttofuoco, Abandon Eyes, Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna, 2024; Paintings as Places, exhibition in five venues realized on the occasion of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture, 2023; Bettina Buck, Finding Form, Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna, 2023; Italo Zuffi, Front and Back (with Lorenzo Balbi), Museo MAMbo and Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna, 2022; Markus Schinwald - Misfits, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, 2020; Ordinary Realities, Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna, 2020; Neo Rauch - Rosa Loy, La Torre, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza, 2019; Just Figure and Background / Courtesy Emilia Romagna, Arte Fiera, Bologna, 2019; Afro. Thoughts in the Hand, Musei San Domenico di Forlì, 2015; All Italy is Silent, Villa Massimo - German Academy, Royal Academy of Spain, Brazilian Embassy, Polish Institute, Russian Center for Science and Culture, Rome, 2015; Franco Guerzoni - Nowhere, Nowhere. Viaggi randagi con Luigi Ghirri, Milan Triennale, 2014; La figurazione inevitabile. A scene of painting today, Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, 2013; Sentimiento Nuevo (with Antonio Grulli), Museo MAMbo, Bologna, 2011.

“I am very happy and excited,” Ferri said. “I have been part of Simone Menegoi’s staff since the first year and have experienced closely the beautiful and fruitful path of his artistic direction. I thank him first. I also thank BolognaFiere, its President Gianpiero Calzolari and its CEO Antonio Bruzzone for the trust they are placing in me, the Director of Operations Enea Righi, with whom I am delighted to be able to work closely, and all the staff of Arte Fiera, whom I have already had the opportunity to get to know over the years. I inherit a strongly growing fair, and it is from this undeniable improvement that we start again. And from a special affection and bond toward Arte Fiera, given by long attendance, that I find shared among many insiders and in the public.”

“I pass the baton to Davide Ferri, who has worked with me from the beginning, and who knows Arte Fiera and its dynamics inside out. To him goes my warmest wishes to further grow this great and historic event,” said Simone Menegoi.

“With great satisfaction for the goals achieved, we look forward to the 2026 edition with confidence, welcoming as future Artistic Director Davide Ferri, already part of the Arte Fiera team as curator of the Pittura XXI section. We are confident that he will be able to pick up the baton in the best possible way to face the next challenges that await us,” added Gianpiero Calzolari, President of BolognaFiere.

Arte Fiera, Davide Ferri will be the new artistic director. He replaces Simone Menagoi

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