Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Artissima 2021 | Mimosa Echard and Namsal Siedlecki win the twelfth edition of the Ettore and Ines Fico Award promoted by MEF Museo Ettore Fico
november 08, 2021 - Artissima

Artissima 2021 | Mimosa Echard and Namsal Siedlecki win the twelfth edition of the Ettore and Ines Fico Award promoted by MEF Museo Ettore Fico


Torino, 4 November 2021 – #artissima, the International Fair of Contemporary Art in Torino, the only one in Italy with an exclusive 
focus on contemporary art, opens the 28th edition of the fair under the direction of Ilaria Bonacossa for the fifth consecutive year.

In 2020, #artissima reacted to the pandemic with exceptional energy and speed, producing a hybrid event that responded to the needs of the exhibiting galleries while at the same time conserving the experimental character of the programme as well as its commercial and cultural quality. 
Using this experience and all the know-how developed throughout this complex situation, #artissima 2021 is organized as a sophisticated combination of physical and digital experiences.

From Friday 5 to Sunday 7 November 2021, the large, luminous spaces of the Oval in Torino welcome the four historic sections of the fair – Main Section, New Entries, Dialogue/Monologue and Art Spaces & Editions. #artissima XYZ – the cross-media platform that since 2020 has hosted the three curated sections, Present Future, Back to the Future and Disegni – is online from 4 to 9 November and is also present with three physical group exhibitions at the Oval.

The director of the fair Ilaria Bonacossa comments: 

Our sense of time has changed. We have lived for almost two years in an alternation of delay and speed, openness and limitation, expectations and adjustments. The time of creation and the time of enjoyment of art have pursued each other, coming together at times, finding new dimensions of sharing. #artissima has never stood still, but has continued to support galleries and artists through both physical and digital projects, constantly renewing its role in a world where all the paradigms have been revised.

Today, opening the fair takes on a different importance. Welcoming the art audience together with our galleries and partners means transforming the fair experience into one of the first steps towards a new normality, in which creativity becomes even more crucial for the reinvention of public and private life.
Artissima 2021 begins with these premises, in the conviction that contemporary art has the ability to imagine multiple future scenarios. We look forward to sharing the ideas and experiences of artists, welcoming viewers into an unexpected space that hovers outside the everyday dimension. A space where works of art are capable of transforming our vision of the world.

Internationally renowned for its focus on pioneering practices, and its role as a launch pad for up-and-coming artists and galleries, #artissima attracts a large audience of collectors, sector professionals and art lovers every year. With each edition, the fair welcomes curators, directors of art institutions and foundations, as well as the patrons of museums from all over the world who are involved in various ways in its programme. 

The vitality of #artissima resonates throughout the city, thanks to the many cultural projects produced in collaboration with public institutions, museums, foundations and galleries across the region. #artissima contributes to the growth of the Italian contemporary art market, stimulating and supporting collectors with an eye for innovation, and a continuously evolving critical and curatorial vision. 

The fair is managed by #artissima srl, a company affiliated with Fondazione Torino Musei. 

PAVILION SAFETY AND SECURITY

Artissima 2021 takes place at the Oval, a glass pavilion of 20,000 square meters in the heart of the Lingotto neighbourhood and managed by GL events Italia. Created in 2006 as an ice rink for the Turin Winter Olympics, once again this year the Oval provides a situation of maximum safety and security, thanks to the application of measures to limit the spread of Covid on the part of the management of the fair complex. The actions are based on the guidelines provided by AEFI (Associazione esposizioni e fiere 
italiane) and the rigorous protocols of the group GL events on an international level. In its own right, #artissima has redesigned the overall layout of the pavilion to provide wider corridors in both directions, and larger open spaces to prevent close gatherings. 

Signage is placed in all areas to ensure social distancing and compliance with current regulations, also with the help of the fair’s staff. Special protocols will be activated for the refreshment facilities.

Detailed information on the procedures for entry of guests and the public are posted on the platform #artissima.art

THE THEME OF THE 28TH EDITION

Artissima 2021 takes place at an anomalous moment in time, often perceived and defined as one of “suspension” and “standstill”, although  it inexorably continues to produce new visions, ideas, ways of acting and reacting. The impact of this critical moment activates a change of pace that is manifested in the need to transform fragility into force through creative imagination. Hence the desire to dedicate the 28th edition of the fair to the concept of Controtempo. The idea of “countertime” comes from the world of music and is applied here as a metaphor of art’s ability to shift rhythmical accents, transforming weak beats into strong points and creating a contrast between voices. A dynamic impulse that generates new visual rhythms with the necessary timing and pauses, 
triggering syncopation and interstitial movement.

“Art – Ilaria Bonacossa explains – has always operated in an ‘emotional and formal countertime’ thanks to intuitions that foreshadow the future, altering the trajectories of our view of reality, disrupting paradigms and opening to unpredictable yet unavoidable interpretations and perspectives. Seen in this light, the history of art is composed of a polyphony of parts, tempo and counter-tempo, fused in a unique, surprising symphony. A symphony to which #artissima wants to continue to contribute in its writing”.