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Artissima, the most renowned Italian contemporary art fair, took place from 31 October to 3 November in Turin. Established 30 years ago, it has demonstrated its international strength over the years, also thanks to the guidance of distinguished directors, such as Ilaria Bonacossa, who led the fair from 2017 to 2021, and the current director Luigi Fassi, who is in his third edition.

In 2024,Artissima welcomed 189 participating Italian and international galleries, including 66 monographic projects. The theme of the fair, established by the director, is “The Era of Daydreaming”, focused on “daydreaming as a spontaneous manifestation of thought, a practice of creation projected into the future”.

The fair was characterized by a strong curatorial trim, expressed through four flagship sections.

Richard Long installation, Tucci Russo booth

The “Main Section” brought together the most renowned galleries from the international art world and highlighted a high degree of diversity, in terms of selection of artists and mediums. We found established international artists' works, such as the “Indian summer circle” by Richard Long (b. 1945) installation, displayed by Tucci Russo gallery (Italy), as well as outstanding emerging artists' proposals, such as the impressive paintings by Giuseppe Francalanza (b. 2000), displayed at Vin Vin (Vienna) booth.

Giuseppe Francalanza, Vin Vin booth

Of particular note is also the project proposed by Cable-Depot (UK), which brought together works by Charlie Warde (b. 1974) and Amikam Toren (b. 1945), artists from different generations and stages of careers, who both explore materiality, conceptually and technically, from different perspectives.

Cable- Depot stand, installation view

Alongside unique works, it was also possible to find editions by renowned as well as contemporary artists in the special section “Art Spaces & Editions”, exclusively devoted to galleries and non-profit spaces presenting prints and multiples, such as Colophonarte with works by renowned Italian artists such as Emilio Isgrò or Michelangelo Pistoletto.

The fair paid particular attention to the emerging and experimental scenario, through the “New Entries” and “Monologue/Dialogue” sections.

“New Entries” consisted of a selection of emerging galleries that have been open less than 5 years and taking part in Artissima for the first time. In this section, we found the proposal by Alice Amati (UK) particularly interesting, which proposed a solo show by artist Rafal Topolewski (b. 1983).

Rafal Topolewski works at Alice Amati stand

The section “Monologue/Dialogue” was instead reserved to galleries with an experimental approach applying with either a monographic booth or with works of two artists in dialogue. In relation to the “dialogues”, a particularly powerful booth was proposed by Francesco Pantaleone (Italy), who put in dialogue works by Maïa Régis (b. 1995) and Alina Kopytsia (b. 1983); while Semiose (France) focused on a monologue of Drew Dodge (b. 2001) works.

Francesco Pantaleone booth, installation view

In addition to the flagship categories, Artissima 2024 also proposed three additional curated sections, focusing on specific categories of artists and mediums, on view also in a dedicated digital platform called “Artissima voice over”.

Established artists were displayed in the “Back to the Future” section, featuring monographic projects by contemporary art pioneers whose work played a key role in art history, such as the solo show proposed by Richard Saltoun focused on the work of artist Carmen Dionyse (1921–2013), recognised by the International Academy of Ceramics as one of the world’s three seminal ceramic artists of the twentieth century.

Carmen Dionyse at Richard Saltoun booth

Focusing instead on emerging artists, the section “Present Future” showcases monographic projects by artists, preferably less than 40 years old, focused on cutting-edge trends on the international art scene. A powerful example is the solo show by Nevine Mahmoud (b. 1988) proposed by Soft Opening gallery (UK), based on sculptures of figurative components in marble, prefiguring their assembly into a mechanized system.

Nevine Mamhoud at Soft Opening gallery booth

The fair dedicated also one section to only specific medium: “Disegni”, focused on projects conceived as solo shows that enhance the significance of the work on paper. An example of this is the project based on drawings by Johanna Calle proposed by Galeria MPA (Spain).

In addition to the projects proposed by galleries, we found especially interesting the project by Intesa Sanpaolo bank, main partner of the fair, which showcased a series of photographic works by Olivo Barbieri (b. 1954) depicting urban views, presented in dialogue with three masterpieces by Gaspar Van Wittel, Giovanni Paolo Panini and Umberto Boccioni.

Olivo Barbieri at Gallerie d’Italia Booth

Thanks to the great variety of artists and media, the diversity of approaches and the international perspective, as well as the emphasis on emerging artists and experimental trends, Artissima has once again proved to be a high quality and input-rich fair. Although the European competition is still quite strong due to the presence of massive, stronger fairs, Artissima remains a must-see in the international scenario. From a sales point of view, however, we have not seen the same enthusiasm, with galleries mainly reporting a slow pace of sales.