MIART 2025 will take place from April 4 to 6 with a VIP preview on April 3 at Allianz MiCo in Milan. Organized by Fiera Milano in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo, the fair gathers 179 galleries from 31 countries and five continents. This year’s edition marks the centenary of Robert Rauschenberg‘s birth, commemorated through museum exhibitions, discussions, and special projects. Under the artistic direction of Nicola Ricciardi and a team of renowned curators, miart 2025 embraces the theme “Among Friends,” drawing inspiration from Rauschenberg‘s retrospective. It emphasizes equality, mutual support, and enduring connections within the art community. The fair is structured into three distinct sections: Established, Emergent, and Portal. The Established section showcases iconic modern masters alongside contemporary innovators, fostering dialogues across generations and art movements. It complements Milan’s broader cultural offerings during Milano Art Week, synergizing with local institutions to enrich the city’s cultural fabric.
Nathalie Du Pasquier, Untitled, 2021, Wood, terracotta, oil on canvas, 151 x 100 x 25 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and APALAZZOGALLERY
Curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, the Emergent section presents 25 galleries offering insights into experimental contemporary art.
Jennifer Carvalho (b. 1980), Still being (seat of wisdom), 2024 oil on canvas 16 x 20 in, courtesy the Artist and Franz Kaka, Toronto, photo credit Lfdocumentation Franz Kaka, Toronto
Meanwhile, the Portal section, curated by Alessio Antoniolli, Director of Triangle Network in London and curator at Fondazione Memmo in Rome, presents ten galleries, adding a dynamic dimension to the fair’s offerings.
Michael Bauer, Dawn Of The Frog, 2024, oil, acrylic, pastel on canvas 47.8 × 62 × 5.5 cm , ph. Giulia Pietroletti. Courtesy of the Artist and Federica Schiavo Gallery
Miart 2025 features a rich program of special initiatives and awards. Highlights include the Intesa Sanpaolo Lounge featuring Robert Rauschenberg‘s iconic “Blue Exit,” the Fondazione Fiera Milano Acquisition Fund, and prestigious awards such as the Herno Prize and LCA Studio Legale Prize.Two notable prizes are the Orbital Cultura – Nexi Group Award, dedicated to photography in all its forms, and the Matteo Visconti di Modrone Prize, supporting young artists with a residency at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia. The fair also introduces the SZ Sugar miart Commission in collaboration with SZ Sugar, exploring contemporary classic music. The project by Mario Airò, represented by VISTAMARE (Pescara, Milan), has been selected for presentation at the fair, underscoring miart‘s dynamic intersection of art and music.Additionally, the fair partners with MSGM to feature BIG EGO by John Giorno, a monumental wall painting bridging miart with citywide cultural events, while Maison Ruinart reaffirms its commitment to sustainability and the arts in the Ruinart VIP Lounge, presenting Julian Charrière’s “Conversations with Nature.”
Elle Decor Italia and Roche Bobois enhance the VIP experience at miart with stylish furnishings, while ICE – Italian Trade Agency supports the fair’s international presence, showcasing Italy’s cultural excellence. Two long-standing awards return to the fair: the Rotary Club Milano Brera Award for Contemporary Art and Young Artists—established in 2009 as the very first award within miart. This prize supports the acquisition of a work by an emerging or mid-career artist, which will then be donated to Milan’s Museo del Novecento and the Massimo Giorgetti Prize, which returns for its third edition. Created by fashion designer and collector Massimo Giorgetti, this award reflects his commitment to supporting young artists at the beginning of their careers and grants a prize worth €5,000. Meanwhile, the renewed collaboration with the Associazione Italiana Ambasciatori del Gusto illustrates the story of the encounter and intersection between two forms of excellence: art and food. Moreover, this year miart sees new collaborations, including that with the General Direction for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, supporting Italian artists with exhibitions and resources both in Italy and abroad. Part of Milano Art Week programme, and during miart, Museo del Novecento inaugurates Rauschenberg e il Novecento, an exhibition promoted by the City of Milan – Culture in collaboration with miart and Fiera d Milano, curated by Gianfranco Maraniello and Nicola Ricciardi with Viviana Bertanzetti. A project that builds a bridge between the artist’s works and some of the most significant masterpieces from the Museum’s collections, intertwining the American artist’s vision with the rich fabric of 20th-century Italian art. At Triennale Milano, the exhibition John Giorno: a labour of LOVE, curated by Nicola Ricciardi with Eleonora Molignani, sheds light on the traces of Giorno’s friendships and collaborations with some of the most significant figures of the 20th century through archival materials from the Giorno Poetry Systems (GPS). From Robert Rauschenberg to John Cage, from Keith Haring to Patti Smith and Andy Warhol, to name a few.
These exhibitions are also made possible thanks to the support of Fiera Milano, whose involvement highlights the desire to strengthen the cultural offering and cohesion of the city’s cultural system. In addition to the institutional partnership with ADI Design Museum, Fiera Milano is also committed to the artistic production of a site-specific work enriching Largo Fiera Milano, the area adjacent to the fair district and home to the Group’s headquarters. The artist commissioned to create this public artwork is Alice Ronchi (1989), who has envisioned the transformation of this transit space into a poetic promenade inspired by a fantastical forest, where organic and evocative silhouettes engage in dialogue with their surroundings through the choice of materials, creating a play of reflections that becomes a narrative element and the maker of a dreamlike atmosphere. It is a meeting point between imagined nature and industrial construction, capable of restoring a new poetic identity to this place.
Rauschenberg’s work and the spirit that shaped his artistic practice will ripple across the city. For instance, inside the Caveau of Gallerie d’Italia — the museum hub of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group — visitors will be able to admire a selection of his masterpieces from the Luigi and Peppino Agrati Collection, a prestigious body of contemporary art now part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s collections, thanks to the bequest of Luigi Agrati. The support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, which has included miart among its International Partners in this Centenary year, has been fundamental in bringing the work of the American artist back into view for the Italian public through all these projects dedicated to him and his art.
Enjoy even more @ https://www.miart.it
Article edited by Laura Astrologo Porché
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