miart 2025: among friends
The 29th edition of miart, Milan’s modern & contemporary art fair organized by Fiera Milano, returns this year with 179 galleries and a series of special exhibitions and events onsite and across the city. miart takes places between April 4th-6th.
Fiera Milano presents the 29th edition of miart, the international fair of modern and contemporary art. The annual art fair, a favorite among collector’s, cultural leaders and artists, is led this year by artistic director Nicola Ricciardi and a new team of curators and professionals. This year’s fair pays special tribute to Robert Rauschenberg, on the centenary of his birth, and the theme, ‘among friends’, takes its name from the final retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work. ‘among friends’ aims to look at ideas around friendship, understood as equal, mutual, lasting and genuinely supportive connection. miart features 179 galleries from 31 countries, who will bring high-level presentations of leading modern and contemporary artists. Marked by a mix of international and Italian galleries, the fair includes three sections: Established, Emergent, and Portal.
The ‘Emergent’ section, curated by Attlia Fattoir Franchini, presents 25 galleries that focus on experimental contemporary practices; ‘Established’, the main section of the fair, offers a selection that ranges from great Modern Art masters to leading contemporary voices. ‘Portal’, curated for the first time by Alessio Antoniolli, Director of Triangle Network in London and Curator at the Fondazione Memmo in Rome, brings together ten galleries with ten projects that question our understanding of miart’s theme, ‘among friends’.
In addition to the main exhibition, miart hosts a series of exciting initiatives that include several important prizes and acquisition funds, including the Fondazione Fiera Milano Acquisition Fund, established in 2012. Valued at €100,000, the Fund is dedicated to acquiring artworks that will become part of Fondazione Fiera Milano’s collection in the historic Palazzina degli Orafi, the Foundation’s headquarters. The Herno Prize also returns, marking its tenth participation at miart with an award of €10,000 for the stand presenting the best exhibition project. For its tenth edition, the LCA Studio Legale Prize for Emergent—established in collaboration with LCA Studio Legale— will once again awards €4,000 to the gallery with the most outstanding presentation within the Emergent section. miart also offers a prize for photography, the Orbital Cultura – Nexi Group Award, that includes a dedicated space in the fair highlighting the works produced for the award in previous editions. The Matteo Visconti di Modrone Prize, established in memory of the President of Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, will award an artist €10,000, who will also have the opportunity to create a work at the Fonderia, supported by the skill and expertise of its artisans.
Art and music are given special honor in the unique SZ Sugar miart Commission; Two long-standing awards are returning 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. The Massimo Giorgetti Prize 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. The awards are overseen by a jury of leading art and culture professionals from around the globe.
The theme of ‘among friends’, and its focus on principles such as openness, interdisciplinarity and a commitment to dialogue and collaboration, which underscored Rauschenberg’s work, feels like a much needed dialogue these days. It will be shaped as well by a series of talks and related events at the fair and across the city, in other leading cultural institutions. The Museo del Novecento inaugurate Rauschenberg e il Novecento, an exhibition promoted by the City of Milan – Culture in collaboration with miart and Fiera 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.
miart 2025 takes places between April 4th-6th. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit: miart 2025.
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