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TURIN, Italy — Artissima is not only a great contemporary art fair but also an advanced fashion sightseeing tour.
At the 2024 edition of the four-day fair, which wrapped on Sunday at the Oval Pavilion of the Lingotto fair which attracted around 34,200 visitors, Tabi Maison Margiela shoes mixed with Hermès Kelly bags in a mix that saw art collectors, design enthusiasts and regulars alike. fashion students filling the pavilions of the fair.
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The art exhibition has grown over the years, bringing more prestige to the industrial city of Turin, a 50-minute train ride outside of Milan that puts it on the international art and design radar, not only with the event itself, but thanks to for many. extra-ordinary initiatives.
In the midst of geopolitical turmoil and global instability, the theme of the 2024 edition of Artissima felt very appropriate and resonant with the attendees.
Curated by 189 exhibiting galleries from 34 countries, the fair’s exhibition, titled “The Era of Daydreaming”, provided a compelling opportunity not only to immerse yourself in contemporary art, but perhaps inspire it at different world views.
“Daydreaming has often been reduced to a hobby, a waste of time and a general fantasy but neuroscientists are telling us that it is one of the most powerful tools for our minds because it suggests that it can spontaneously produce visual ideas that redefine our lives and our daily adventures. while projecting them forward,” said Artissima director Luigi Fassi.
“This year’s fair is a conference of daydreamers, featuring artists and galleries, the latter committed to standing up and accompanying the former on their creative journey,” he said.
In addition to the four main sections, entitled “Main,” “New Entries,” “Monologue/Dialogue” and “Art of Spaces & Editions,” Artissima hosted three curatorial projects that depended on the fair’s ongoing collaboration with humanitarian researchers .
These included “Present Future,” “Back to the Future” and “Drawings” focused on emerging artists, established creators who have enjoyed a recent revival in the art market, and sketches, respectively.
Now in its 31st edition, Artissima enjoys the support of a rich roster of partners including K-Way. The parent of the BasicNet brand is based in Turin where it has kept its headquarters.
“Our partnership with Artissima, which is celebrating its 13th consecutive year this year, is the result of a solid visual bond, born from the idea of exploring the boundaries between art and fashion,” said Lorenzo Boglione, vice president on BasicNet Group and chief executive. official K-Way and Sebago, the latter is also part of the group’s portfolio of brands.
“Together we promote values such as innovation and artistic expression, the two fundamental pillars of K-Way. Being part of such a relevant event that combines creativity and cultural influence in the heart of Turin is a perfect expression of the essence of our brand,” he said.
K-Way treated the main entrance of the Oval Pavillion to a custom decoration and offered visitors a packable tote bag created for the event.
Next year, the brand is going to celebrate its 60th anniversary and without sharing further details, the executive said that the celebration will depend on the brand’s connection with the world of art.
On the real life side Alighiero Boetti’s “arazzo,” or tapestry, “Untitled (Black on white and white on black)” from around 1988 sold for 770,000 euros at the fair, were perhaps strong works by artists who were not they know a lot.
Among these were Oskar Holweck, considered a pioneer of paper art in Europe, and the craftsman and sculptor Carmen Dionyse, whose busts and masks draw inspiration from biblical and Greek mythological figures.
The women, as well as non-conforming gender perspectives, came to the fore, with provocative works of art challenging the male worldview.
French-born but Italian-based Nicole Gravier has challenged patriarchal society throughout her life. Ermes-Ermes gallery brought to the fair the photographic artist’s sugary stage images recreating sets of storylines from soap operas and TV series. Gravier resists clichés by embedding non-collar and exotic elements, such as a magazine opening on an article entitled “The Proletarian Revolution and Bourgeois Culture,” which contradicts the overall coy atmosphere of the pictures.
Among those who emerged, Wien-based Lotti Brockmann was at the fair displaying one of her signature works. Brockmann makes casts from public statues that usually depict prominent people and then turns them into lollipops. The artist spent the day licking them, and giving visitors the chance to do so too, in a multi-dimensional art form that engages with sculpture and illustration.
In the same way, Debashish Paul, born in 1994 West Europe, examines the problems of quiet identity in a society dominated by heterosexual norms, creating pictures of sculptural costumes that resemble royal equipment. He also creates the costumes and wears them throughout his life.
Around the Artissima fair, Turin has put together a full-fledged Art Week with events popping up all over the city, offering side events for art patrons, curators, galleries, collectors and regular attendees.
These included, among others, the exhibition “The Underground Cinema” focused on the film industry at the Galleria d’Italia Torino museum, the solo show of the artist Bekhbaatar Enkhtur “Hearsay” at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and “Objects in Mirror D could be closer than they were. Appear,” an installation by Julian Charrière and Julius von Bismarck at the Regional Museum of Natural Science of Turin.
Many of the younger crowd finished their night out at the electronic and avant-pop music festival C2C, formerly known as Club to Club, which has been organized in association with Artissima since 2002.
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