It all began back in 1974, when BolognaFiere decided to present (along with what was then called the Trade Fair) a small section devoted to modern and contemporary art. A brilliant idea and an immediate success. The first edition had only ten galleries; a year later, there were 200. 1974-2024: an anniversary that no other Italian art fair has yet reached and that only two other fairs in Europe have exceeded.

Arte Fiera is celebrating its 50th birthday by focusing on its origins: the first, pioneering editions that in just a few years made it an international event. In 2024, the public program will take a look at events, personalities, works, and publications from those years, starting from the fair’s foundation in 1974. By doing this, it will also celebrate the ‘70s in Bologna, an extraordinary decade in which the city was at the vanguard (not only in Italy) in visual arts, design, architecture, and in conceiving new forms of relations among art, politics, and society. The creation of Arte Fiera was both a cause and an effect of those years, arising from the city’s innovative and bold environment and immediately giving it an essential stimulus. Exhibitors, sections, curators

Arte Fiera 2024 picks up the thread of the fortunate 2023 edition, hailed by the press as a rebirth, welcomed by collectors, attended by visitors in pre-pandemic numbers. The location, the same as in the previous edition (Halls 25 and 26, two of the Bologna Fair District’s most elegant spaces, traditionally associated with the Fair), and 2023’s winning collaborations (starting with the one between Simone Menegoi as Artistic Director and Enea Righi, renowned manager and collector, as Managing Director) have been confirmed.

Arte Fiera 2024 will have 195 exhibitors. We welcome return of galleries such as the Apalazzo Gallery, Laveronica, Lia Rumma, Lorenzelli Arte, Franco Noero, Ronchini, Sprovieri.

The Main Section of Arte Fiera, divided as always into post-war and contemporary art, will again be accompanied by three curated, invitation-only sections: Photography and moving images, Pittura XXI, and Multiples, presenting works published in edition, ranging from artist books to design.

Pittura XXI will again be curated by Davide Ferri, critic and independent curator, while Photography and moving images is entrusted for the second time to Giangavino Pazzola, curator of di Camera - Centro italiano per la fotografia (Turin). Multiples will have a new curator: critic and art historian Alberto Salvadori. In addition to the curated sections, there will again be Percorso: not really a section, but, as the name implies, an itinerary that thematically links some of the stands in the Main Section. This year, Percorso’s theme will be a universal language that unites artists of different generations and styles: drawing.

The following is a brief description of each section and its participants: The Main Section ranges from Modern and post-war art, the fair’s traditional strong points, to contemporary research, with emphasis on Italian art.