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Promoted by the Municipality of Bologna with the support of BolognaFiere, and directed for the ninth consecutive year by Lorenzo Balbi — Director of MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna — Art City Bologna 2026 transforms the city from 5 to 8 February into a pulsating organism, where contemporary art is not merely observed but experienced and inhabited, in a collective journey involving citizens and visitors alike, inviting them to explore the city’s spaces.
The theme of this edition is The Body of Language, curated by Caterina Molteni. Inspired by the homonymous text by Giorgio Agamben, the title suggests a radical reflection: language is not an abstract system, but a body that takes shape through voice, gestures, and encounters with others. Rethinking the body thus means rethinking knowledge, its power structures, and the ways in which it is transmitted.
With over 300 events including exhibitions, performances, talks, and installations hosted by institutional venues, galleries, and independent spaces, the city presents itself as a widespread museum dedicated to contemporary culture. Below are the must-see events during Art City 2026 week.
The trilogy includes Gutta, a multimedia solo exhibition by Alessandro Brighetti transforming the former Enel cabin into an immersive environment where art and science dialogue around anthropic impact and care as a response to waste; Eccesso di Stagione, a videomapping project by Marco Grassivaro and Ispira Creative Company, supported by the Ministry of Culture, denouncing fast fashion hyper-consumerism and its environmental impact; and All’altezza dell’arte. The Richi Collection, curated by Simona Pinelli, which narrates contemporary art from a child’s perspective through the collection of Riccardo, begun in childhood and grown alongside him.
The three events are part of L’arte che aiuta, a solidarity initiative continuing in 2026 and 2027, donating part of the proceeds to local charitable projects. The initiative reaffirms Re-Use With Love’s commitment to promoting an inclusive and accessible culture rooted in reuse, sustainability, and solidarity.
Spazio b5 presents the solo exhibition of photographer Michele Levis, Resonance: The Harmony of Opposites, installed in the gallery spaces at Vicolo Cattani 5b, in the heart of Bologna’s historic center. The exhibition brings together 47 photographs and unfolds as a visual reflection on the constant becoming of reality, in dialogue with the thought of Heraclitus and the idea that nothing ever remains the same.
A central element of Levis’s research is water, understood not merely as an iconographic subject, but as an active and generative force within the photographic process. The images arise from a continuous tension between opposing poles—presence and absence, form and dissolution, stillness and movement—which do not resolve into a definitive synthesis, but remain suspended in a fragile and transient balance. It is precisely within this space of contact that subtle and meaningful resonances emerge.
The exhibition also includes tactile panels derived from two photographic works, conceived to offer an alternative and inclusive mode of sensory engagement. Through a material reinterpretation of the images, the project translates rhythms, tensions, and formal relationships into the language of touch. The exhibition project is curated by Stefano Manzotti and Michele Piccolo.
ABABO (Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna) presents a week packed with events dedicated to contemporary art, featuring exhibitions, meetings, conferences, and projects spread across the city. At the heart of the program is ABABO Open Show, a large exhibition of works by students displayed in the Academy’s spaces, enriched by guided tours, awards, editorial presentations, and special openings for ART CITY White Night (Saturday, 7 February). The program also includes the ARTalk series — dialogues between artists and curators involved in the exhibitions — the Academy’s participation in Arte Fiera with the exhibition project Direzione segno, curated by Maura Pozzati (Hall 26 / Stand B58), and the 11th Study Day on Contemporary Art Restoration, scheduled for Friday, 6 February, organized in collaboration with IGIIC – Italian Group of the International Institute for Conservation. Titled A Look at Contemporary Art in Public Spaces, the meeting will take place in the Aula Teatro and will bring together curators, restorers, artists, and professionals from the field.
Completing the program is ABABO OFF, a series of projects and initiatives including exhibitions in cultural and institutional spaces across the city, scenographic and interactive installations, design and illustration projects, multidisciplinary performances, and urban photography interventions, fostering dialogue between artistic research and public space.
The ARTalk series, organized to delve into the poetics of some of the protagonists of the exhibitions on view and coordinated by Marinella Paderni, involves five artists: Flavio de Marco in conversation with Carmen Lorenzetti at Villa delle Rose; Giuseppe Pietroniro with Marinella Paderni at LABS Contemporary Art; Matt Connors with Stella Bottai at Herald St; Anneke Eussen with Guido Molinari at Galleria Studio G7; and Délio Jasse with Marco Scotini at AF Gallery.
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna also hosts IN VOLO – Journeys and Systems of Contemporary Art, an exhibition of finalists from the seventh edition of the Young Art Award 2025, promoted by the Gruppo Giovani di Confindustria Emilia in collaboration with the Academy. The award is dedicated to Biennium students and presents the 10 finalist works.
The 2026 Special Program unfolds as an itinerary connecting the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna and some of its most emblematic spaces with works by artists investigating knowledge through its bodily and sensory dimensions. These include the “Alessandro Ghigi” Hall of the former Institute of Zoology, the atrium of the former Faculty of Engineering, the Sala della Boschereccia at Palazzo Hercolani, the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio Library, the Federico Zeri Foundation, the Navile District Educational Laboratory, and the Main Hall of the University Library of Bologna. The program reveals power structures embedded in educational processes while opening spaces of resistance and new expressive horizons.
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna presents John Giorno: The Performative Word, curated by Lorenzo Balbi, the first major institutional retrospective dedicated to poet and performer John Giorno (New York, 1936–2019), a key figure in New York’s avant-garde who broke disciplinary boundaries by turning poetry into a living body.
The MAMbo Project Room hosts Mattia Moreni. The Bologna Anthology, 1965, curated by Claudio Spadoni and Pasquale Fameli, part of the broader exhibition project MATTIA MORENI. From Training to “The Last Shudder Before the Great Mutation”, the most extensive ever dedicated to the artist (Pavia, 1920 – Brisighella, 1999). The exhibition revisits and reinterprets the major 1965 show curated by Francesco Arcangeli for the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna.The exhibition Screen Life, curated by Lorenzo Balbi and hosted at Villa delle Rose, dedicated to Flavio de Marco, is part of MAMbo’s program exploring the most significant contemporary painting research in Italy. The project spans twenty-six years of de Marco’s work, presenting around seventy pieces and offering an extensive reading of his pictorial practice.
The Centro Documentazione Donne di Bologna presents Daniela Comani’s solo exhibition Reversal Exercise. Practices of Rewriting at the Sala del Timpano / Chiostro di Santa Cristina. The exhibition brings together the new video Reversal Exercise (2024), shown for the first time in Italy, and a selection of artist’s books exploring themes related to gender, language, and history. Alongside the exhibition, the library will provide a curated selection of related texts. Among the artist’s books on display is YOU ARE MINE, which, together with the other works, highlights rewriting and the redefinition of gender roles as a central strategy in Comani’s artistic practice.
Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna presents Art City Cinema at Cinema Modernissimo, curated by Gian Luca Farinelli. The project continues its exploration of the fertile intersections between cinema and art, investigating relationships between visual languages and contemporary artistic practices. At Galleria Modernissimo, the exhibition Li ho visti showcases a wide selection of original sketches for posters created by Bolognese illustrator Stefano Ricci during the cinema’s first year of reopening.
In Sala Cervi, the performance Cinema Impero by Italo-Eritrean artist Muna Mussie, curated by Martina Angelotti, is staged. Named after the historic cinema in Asmara, the work is conceived as a meta-narrative weaving together historical archives, artificial intelligence, and emotional dimensions. Designed as a multi-sensory black box experience for one spectator at a time, the performance offers an intimate and immersive journey guided by Mussie’s human voice and an AI-generated one, through archival footage from the Istituto Luce and private videos collected by the artist during her travels in Eritrea.
Fondazione MAST presents Living, Working, Surviving, curated by Urs Stahel, an exhibition dedicated to Jeff Wall, one of the most influential contemporary photographers. The show brings together 28 works produced between 1980 and 2021, including lightboxes and large-format color and black-and-white photographic prints from international collections.
Wall’s images depict scenes of everyday life and labor, designed to engage viewers and stimulate interpretation. His works oscillate between revelation and concealment, inviting viewers to enter the scene. Through tableaux inspired by masters such as Velázquez, Delacroix, and Manet, the artist offers a lucid and critical observation of Western society, portraying its aspirations, contradictions, and inequalities, with attention to both the margins and the middle class.
At the Opificio delle Acque, Marche-based embroidery artist Elena Ciarrocchi presents TRAMATE. Thread, Water, and Women. Through embroidery enriched with gold and silver threads, the artist creates a poetic universe populated by marine creatures and visions suspended between nature and imagination. Curated by Alessia Marchi and Milena Naldi, the project intertwines historical memory and contemporary practice, giving voice — through a site-specific installation — to the historical figure of Mabel of Bury St. Edmunds. At the heart of the exhibition is a participatory installation inviting the public to embroider, creating a living dialogue between tradition and the present and weaving together the history of Bologna’s canals and silk mills with the silent labor of generations of craftswomen.
In its twelfth participation, Fondazione Zucchelli reaffirms its commitment to supporting young artists from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna with the exhibition project All of a sudden, curated by the Parsec collective.
At Zu.Art Giardino delle Arti, on the occasion of #2 All of a sudden and Art City White Night, the public can experience the interactive videomapping installation Interaction Zucchelli, an immersive experience combining music, images, and storytelling, reinterpreting the figure of Carlo Zucchelli in a contemporary key.
From 6 to 8 February, #1 All of a sudden will also be open to visitors, featuring works by seven students awarded by the Foundation. The project invites reflection on the concept of the sudden event as a generative moment — a threshold opening toward new possibilities.
Through 12 February, Palazzo d’Accursio hosts the exhibition Pietro Pietra (1885–1956). The Strength of the Line, promoted by the Associazione Bologna per le Arti on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The exhibition presents 82 original works, including drawings, oil paintings, and etchings dedicated to the animal world, alongside a selection of watercolor-ink drawings depicting evocative views of Bologna, Pietra’s hometown.
The exhibition traces a journey through the tradition of Bolognese drawing and graphic art between the 19th and 20th centuries, following the heterogeneous output of a visionary artist deeply connected to his city. Bologna emerges in evocative views and symbolic landmarks — porticoes, city gates, historic squares — where rigorous perspective and architectural attention intertwine with strong scenographic and narrative elements. Human figures, reduced to essential signs or simple marks, contribute scale and vitality to the city’s monumental presence. The project is realized with the patronage of the University of Bologna, the Accademia di Belle Arti, the Municipality of Bologna, the Emilia-Romagna Region, and the Fondazione Collegio Artistico Venturoli.
Fondazione Golinelli presents Marino’s Favorites. Chapter II – Opus Mundi, the second chapter of the exhibition dedicated to the Marino Golinelli Collection. The exhibition brings together more than fifty works that reflect Cavalier Golinelli’s curiosity, global outlook, and focus on the future. Shaped by over thirty years of travel and research, the collection offers a multicultural artistic panorama and addresses key contemporary issues — ecological and technological transition, geopolitical conflicts, and migration— alongside a reflection on the future of humanity.
Opus Mundi is a journey that weaves together global visions and intimate perspectives, conceived as a travel experience through different cultures and sensibilities. Beyond the exhibition itself, the project opens up to dialogue and learning through a rich program of events involving art, dance, theater, and digital technologies, with a particular focus on younger generations.
On display are works by, among others, William Kentridge, Tomás Saraceno, Lucy and Jorge Orta, Marcello Maloberti, Abdoulaye Konaté, and Arcangelo Sassolino. With this chapter, Fondazione Golinelli reaffirms its commitment to making accessible a heritage in which art, science, and technology engage in dialogue to interpret the present and imagine the future.
>>> Read also the 2025 edition of Art City Bologna
Cover image: Living, Working, Surviving. Jeff Wall. Courtesy of Fondazione MAST
