Highlights From Miart 2024, Milan’s Modern And Contemporary Art Fair

The 28th annual Miart international art fair kicked off a month of art, architecture, design and fashion in Italy's trendiest city last week. With 180 galleries from 28 countries displaying more than 1,000 works of art, Milan's international fair has a well-deserved reputation for carefully selected galleries. The fair has made a stellar effort to stand out from the hundreds of annual art fairs that include mammoth fairs like Frieze and Art Basel by focusing on Italian galleries and making the unusual decision to have emerging galleries, rather than the established blue chip galleries. , right in front of the fair.

The Miart galleries are reviewed by Nicola Ricciardi, the director of the fair, and a jury that chooses around half of the applicants. Although the focus is on Italy, this year they have also accepted a good range of international galleries such as Helena Anrather (New York), Galerie Buchholz (Cologne, Berlin), Emanuela Campoli (Paris, Milan), Fabienne Levy (Lausanne, Geneva). ), Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro), Greengrassi (London) and Galerie Neu (Berlin).

For foreign visitors, Miart offers the possibility to see the great Italian art galleries that make up half of the fair, in addition to a wide range of artistic events around the city. A sensational retrospective at the stunning Rem Koolhaas-designed Fondazione Prada features 49 mostly sculptural works by Pino Pascali, who created so much before he died aged 32 in a motorcycle accident in 1968, the year he represented Italy at the Biennale of Venice And in Pirelli HangarBicocca, a large former tire factory, there is a monumental installation by Anselm Kiefer and two temporary shows: Short of land by Nari Ward and Call and meet by Chiara Camoni.

Among the great entries at Miart this year were works by Italian artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Lucio Fontana, Alighiero Boetti and Caribbean Tea Timea magnificent painted screen by David Hockney that sold for $480,000 in the first two hours of the fair's opening.

One of the most memorable stands was Milan's Galleria Raffaella Cortese with a single work of art, a bronze swing that visitors were invited to try on. Designed by Francesco Arena, the swing was available in an edition of three, all of which sold on the first day for $35,000 each.

In the Emergent section, a solo presentation by Alexis Soul-Gray was a real highlight at the booth of Los Angeles gallery Bel Ami. The UK-based artist's works combine painting, drawing and collage, using images from Italian Renaissance painting and advertisements idealizing family life from popular British magazines.

The Herno prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, for the best stand of the art fair went to Galerie Buchholz, (Cologne – Berlin – New York), with a well thought out presentation of works by Paul Thek and Isa Genzken, Lukas Duwenhögger and Lutz Bacher. .

In a fair with a lot of painting, at the stand of the Lugano Repetto gallery, it was good to remember the monumental installation of 1970 by Robert Smithson. Spiral jettycaptured brilliantly on film by the late, great photojournalist, Gianfranco Gorgoni.

Disco Tintin Ninaan installation of the large-scale works of Argentinian artist Vivian Suter at the Kaufmann Repetto stand (Milan – New York) was the culmination of decades of exploration of the treasures of the Guatemalan rainforest.

If you're arriving by train in Milan this month, you'll be greeted by a spectacular installation by French street artist JR. The French artist. The Birth outside Milan Central Station consists of a series of huge printed images of rock formations plastered over aluminum slats and will be on view until May 1, 2024.

A free public design exhibition at the University of Milan is another must-see this month. Interni Cross Vision, presented by Interni magazine, is open until April 28 in the glorious historic courtyard of the University and above. More than 40 architecture and interior design exhibitions and installations showcase the best of Italian and international design, including 70 designers from Brazil and Turkey, KutniaIt is being knitted backwards, a dramatic draping of the towering columns with luxurious fringes of striped fabrics and Ikat prints.

Practical aspects

British Airways and Ita Airways have numerous daily flights to Milan Linate Airport, a smaller and very easy to navigate airport just 20 minutes from the city centre.

where to be

For a luxury stay in Milan, an excellent choice in the Porta Nuova district is the super stylish Principe di Savoia, part of the Dorchester group. For smaller budgets, the four-star NH Milano City Life is right next to the art fair and metro or in the city center, the Sonder Missori is a stylish option.