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From 6 to 8 February 2026, Arte Fiera returns to Bologna for its 49th edition at BolognaFiere. Titled Cosa sarà — a tribute to the famous song by Lucio Dalla, the Bolognese singer-songwriter and composer — the fair presents itself as an invitation to ask questions, to acknowledge that element of mystery that makes the art of the present irreducible, necessary, and viscerally capable of sparking curiosity.
Following the 2025 edition, Arte Fiera opens a new cycle with the first artistic direction by Davide Ferri, joined by Enea Righi, now in his fourth year as operational director. Arte Fiera — the longest-running Italian art fair — with a total of 201 exhibitors, including 174 galleries, 12 publishers in the publishing section, and 15 institutions, reaffirms its role as a key reference point for the national art system, decisively relaunching its Italian identity while opening up to new research perspectives.
The Main Section remains the backbone of the fair, spanning modern art, post-war art, and research-driven contemporary practices. Surrounding it, five sections redraw the map of languages and formats, introducing significant innovations. Ventesimo+, the new project for the modern art pavilion curated by Alberto Salvadori, dedicated to Italian and international art from the early twentieth century to today, places the practice of collecting at the center as an identity-defining, eclectic gesture — a narrative shaped by choices, obsessions, and personal trajectories. Photography finds a new conceptual home in Fotografia e dintorni, curated by Marta Papini, which expands the medium’s boundaries to include cross-pollinations, conceptual approaches, and dialogues with other languages. The Multipli section, curated for the first time by Lorenzo Gigotti, explores the territory of reproducibility and accessibility, presenting editions, artist’s books, design, audio, and new media as tools for imagining a more open and inclusive market. With Pittura XXI, curated by Ilaria Gianni, painting is reinterpreted as a language of the present, featuring some of the most emblematic practices by artists from different generations — emerging and mid-career, Italian and international — from 2000 to today. Now in its second consecutive year, Prospettiva, curated by Michele D’Aurizio, continues to spotlight the research of new generations through monographic presentations promoted by emerging galleries as well as established galleries with a strong research-oriented program.
Arte Fiera’s renewal also comes through a new selection committee, expanded to seven members, reflecting the plurality of perspectives and positions that currently shape the art system — from historical twentieth-century art to contemporary practices. The committee comprises Gian Marco Casini (Gian Marco Casini Gallery, Livorno), Davide Mazzoleni (Mazzoleni, Turin, London – UK, Milan), Enzo Savoia (Bottegantica, Milan), and Benedetta Spalletti (Vistamare, Milan, Pescara), alongside Fabrizio Padovani (P420, Bologna), Carlo Repetto (Repetto Gallery, Lugano – CH), and Federica Schiavo (Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome).
Within the fair, Book Talk, now in its fifth edition and curated by Guendalina Piselli, confirms the central role of art publishing as a space for thought and exchange, with particular attention to independent publishing. The scheduled presentations — ranging from the photographic books of Chiara Calgaro and Eleonora Agostini to the monograph on Alessandra Spranzi and the preview of Sudario #1 — outline a constellation of practices in which the book functions as artwork, archive, and critical device.
Arte Fiera thus presents itself as a true national and international laboratory, where ideas, visions, and relationships intertwine in celebration of the “vitality” of contemporary art. Emblematic in this sense is its support for Art City Bologna 2026, which from 5 to 8 February animates museums, historic sites, and institutional venues with exhibitions, installations, talks, and performances, inviting citizens and visitors to rediscover Bologna through its spaces.
The narrative of Arte Fiera also extends into the digital sphere through new formats. LET’S WALK weaves together contemporary art and the memory of Bologna through narrative walks, where each story becomes an opportunity to discover or rediscover significant places in the city, while LET’S TALK is dedicated to direct dialogue with curators and directors, offering a preview of the visions shaping the 2026 edition.
The collaboration with Fondazione Furla is also renewed for the performance program curated by Bruna Roccasalva. The artist selected for the 2026 edition is Chalisée Naamani, who will present a new, site-specific work at the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau — an intervention that intertwines performance, sculpture, and installation, transforming the space into a kaleidoscope of images, materials, and bodies. A gesture that seems to perfectly embody the meaning of Cosa sarà: not an answer, but an experience to be lived through.
Cover image: "Teogonia", Giulio Paolini. Courtesy of the artist and Alfonso Artiaco, Naples
