WHAT ART LONGS FOR? BEING TALKED ABOUT. A FAIR EXAMPLE
Milano: a (not that much) small land of ideas, dreams, cues and so much to discover. How is it possible to really live it and not just be a tourist strolling around? Well, is it possible?
We live in a mundane jungle: so many things to do, too many choices, can we really understand everything? Let’s try! Here we’ll catch every possible hint Milano can give us, a few tips that may help everyone survive this bustling city.
Here we goes.
Milano Art Week is over: among the many proposals miart catches our attention. The art fair curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini and Alberto Salvadori and managed by Emanuela Forlin, started on the 1st of April till the 3rd, it has brought to light art market trends and galleries across the world which will most likely be successful this year.
As authentic milanese lifestyle embodiment one must take part in at least one of MAW projects - whether an opening, a vernissage or a visit to fieramilanocity Pavillon. You may not even be in the mood for art but it’s just like you feel you need to do something. But, honestly, what is miart fair? Since yes, my readers, we are speaking about a fair.
If a fair is a gathering of buyers and sellers at a particular place and time for trade, an art fair is a meeting place for agents, who represent buyers, and galleries, which represent artists. This is what happens at miart but also at Frieze, Art Basel, Tefaf and many more.
Everything is so brokered that an artist could kiss and tell the buyer of his artworks without even knowing he or she is the one who has just paid thousands just to hang a plain canvas with a signature in his or her living.
What is the relevance of joining in these chaotic negotiations? Easy: visibility. Galleries need this window to introduce their pupils to the public and, at the same time, to show off well known artists under their wing. So, basically, fairs are a medium to raise awareness on agents and representatives, not much for selling but rather to point out “hey, I’m the broker of this artist and you are not”.
Now imagine 150 galleries from 21 countries divided into three sections based on artworks features - Emergent, Established and Decades - silently fighting using artworks as weapons. Nice way to spend the weekend, bad vibes included in the 14€ reduced ticket for students.
A word for Milan Art Week would be “synergies” for during it the city offers several openings in the most relevant showrooms: Fondazione Prada, HangarBicocca, Massimo De Carlo Gallery just to name a few. Those events catalyse talks on art, correct, but also on political, economic, social and ethical issues and visitors have a key role since they have to choose where to go. Milanesi are one of the main character of this anthology of the absurd: art world longs for crowd recognition, for public engagement. We all can figure out Milano Fashion Week engagement on influencers, stars and models; basically during Milano Art Week we see the same framework but the ones rushing from one show to another are us. We are the ones sharing experiences and opinions, we create debate on artworks, on exhibitions and performances. And in the cultural frame we live in, public opinion is crucial. Miart fair and MAW exhibitions success is given more from public response than from buyers themselves. Art ability to raise discussions on different topics is self-evident and discussions is what MAW looked for.
Our point? Well, walking through miart there’s a huge choice and differentiation of art concepts and movements but a lack of latest art tech trends while for what concerns the Milano Art Week exhibitions spread in city we faced the same huge choice but a much more aim to debate of which Maurizzio Cattelan installation in Massimo De Carlo Gallery (the hang mannequin in the bathroom that is) is just an example.
We know that a show's relevance is given by how much people talk about it, then Milanesi, we live in a kind of reverse Gossip Girl, xoxo. See you next chapter.
.png)
