Acrobatic. That is what to expect from the 33rd edition of Artissima, running Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at Turin’s Oval Lingotto, Italy’s leading contemporary art fair and one of Europe’s most important. Director Luigi Fassi has chosen “Fancy: A Flexible, Acrobatic Body” as this year’s theme, drawing on American philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s definition of imagination in Poetic Justice: imagination is a moral and emotional muscle that must be kept in shape. Art thus becomes a gym for keeping the mind flexible and open.

“From exhibitions to reading, from film to theater, we must make sure that every citizen of our liberal democracies engages with these kinds of experiences,” Fassi says. “To deprive ourselves of them would mean giving up a part of who we are. Fancy is the power of the imagination projected into the future, into our lives but also into politics. It is the desire to push beyond our limits and understand others.”

The fair will bring together 183 galleries from 35 countries and four continents, including 66 presenting solo projects and 36 making their Artissima debut. This year, particular attention will be paid to galleries from Asia, from Malaysia to China. The Japanese gallery Anonymous art project will return, funded by billionaire Hiroyuki Maki to promote Japanese artists in Europe. Turin Culture Councilor Rosanna Purchia also revealed that a delegation from Buenos Aires’ Malba museum will attend.

Fassi describes the effort as a “diplomatic and intelligence operation,” after traveling around the world to seek out “galleries in their own countries, to find the ones that were the right fit and persuade them to take on the cost of a long journey to Turin.” The good news, he says, is that around the world there is “a strong desire to discover Europe and enter it through the door of Artissima.”

The fair, which will remain at the Oval through 2027, will be divided into: Main, New Entries, Monologue/Dialogue and Art Editions sections, alongside three curated sections: Present Future, curated by Léon Kruijswijk and Joel Valabrega; Back to the Future, by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti and Heike Munde; and Disegni, by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli.

Among the special initiatives, in addition to the traditional Meeting Point by La Stampa, where journalists, curators and experts will discuss trends in contemporary art, are Artissima Junior, where artist Francis Offman, with support from Juventus, will guide children in creating collaborative works; the Delizie VIP lounge, redesigned by Edoardo Piermattei with natural elements transformed into furnishings; Made In, an artist-residency program hosted by companies and supported by the Turin Chamber of Commerce; and an Intesa Sanpaolo space devoted to three photographs by Massimo Vitali, previewing his upcoming exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Turin. During Artissima, the museum will also host No Future, a film and video program curated by Alice Motard.

At Parco Michelotti, a short film created with AI, I left something in the woods by the German duo Hedda Roman, will play on a loop. The Principi di Piemonte hotel will host a sculpture made of plastic and air by Franco Mazzucchelli, while the Pinacoteca Agnelli will present a project by Greek artist Iris Touliatou, winner of the Pista 500 Prize. Finally, the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo will host a solo exhibition by Australian artist Louis Morlæ.

The Fondazione Arte Crt, chaired by Patrizia Sandretto and directed by Luigi Cerutti, is renewing its €300,000 fund to purchase works at the fair for the public collections of Turin’s GAM and Castello di Rivoli. It is also promoting The Curators’ Choice, a program in which international curators will single out a particularly significant gallery and preparing the Pastis Social Club conversation space at the Oval to showcase the foundation’s collection and present its new catalog.

Turin will thus once again present itself as the “capital of contemporary art,” says Massimo Broccio, President of the Fondazione Musei, “thanks to a unique publicly owned event at the heart of a cultural system that gives the city an international standing.”

This will be Fassi’s fifth edition as Director, and the results of the search for his successor are expected the week after the fair ends. Many in the art world hope he will remain, citing the personal and professional qualities he has demonstrated. But Artissima has a curse: since founder Casiraghi, none of his predecessors have lasted more than five years.

— © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.