Artissima 2022, the 29th edition of the international art fair, runs from 4 – 6 November in Turin, showcasing 174 galleries across seven flagship and curated sections. A weekend rife with creation and curation, the fair welcomes some of the contemporary art world’s most inspired minds, from Olafur Eliasson to Arthur Jafa.
Artissima, the International Fair of Contemporary Art in Turin, is the only fair in Italy with an exclusive focus on contemporary art. The 29th edition will be led for the first time by Luigi Fassi, Artissima’s new Director. Artissima 2022 will offer initiatives that confirm its unique position on the European cultural scene and its ability to attract the most interesting galleries, artists, collectors and curators on an international level, with the promise – always kept – of an experimental, cutting-edge event.
From Friday 4 to Sunday 6 November 2022, the large, luminous spaces of the Oval in Turin will welcome the four flagship sections of the fair – Main Section, New Entries, Monologue/Dialogue and Art Spaces & Editions – and three curated sections – Disegni, Present Future and Back to the Future – with the participation of 174 Italian and international galleries, including 35 monographic projects.
The galleries of Artissima 2022 come from 28 countries and 4 continents with 40 exhibitors participating in the fair for the first time. In the words of the newly appointed director Luigi Fassi: “In a phase of change of many institutional models of presentation of contemporary art, the 29th iteration of Artissima in Turin speaks first of all of the fair’s ability to reinforce its double identity of a market platform and a place of cultural production, enhancing both aspects. What stands out this year is the quality of the Italian and international network of the fair, which implements its action of research on a global level to continue to offer collectors and museum professionals an experience of discovery, with works, galleries and artists at a very high level from Europe, America, Africa and Asia. The 40 galleries taking part in Artissima for the first time in 2022 bear witness to the fair’s appeal and its status as a catalyst of experiments, research and investment in the art market. Visiting the fair in Turin is an experience that brings together collectors, curators and art lovers, and those who wager on Artissima will be rewarded by the fact that they have been enabled to intercept the works and artists that will be the protagonists of the near future”.
Internationally renowned for its focus on pioneering practices, and its role as a launch pad for up-and-coming artists and galleries, Artissima attracts a large audience of collectors, sector professionals and art lovers every year. With each edition, the fair welcomes curators, directors of art institutions and foundations, as well as the patrons of museums from all over the world who are involved in various ways in its programme.
The vitality of Artissima resonates throughout the city, thanks to the many cultural projects produced in collaboration with public institutions, museums, foundations and galleries across the region. Artissima contributes to the growth of the Italian contemporary art market, stimulating and supporting collectors with an eye for innovation, and a continuously evolving critical and curatorial vision.
The organization of Artissima is overseen by Artissima srl, a company affiliated with Fondazione Torino Musei, and formed in 2008 to manage the fair’s artistic and commercial relations. The Artissima trademark belongs to Città di Torino, Regione Piemonte and Città Metropolitana di Torino. The 29th edition of Artissima, for the first time under the patronage of Ministero della cultura, takes place with the support of the three brand-owning authorities, jointly with Fondazione CRT, Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Camera di Commercio di Torino.
THE THEME OF THE 29TH EDITION / The theme selected for this year is Transformative Experience, a concept developed by the American philosopher L.A. Paul (professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Yale University) in the essay of the same title published in 2014 by Oxford University Press. According to the author, a transformative experience is able to radically modify the person who lives it, triggering a crisis of rationally envisioned expectations and opening a perspective on the unknown.
“In recent years – Luigi Fassi writes – the art world as a whole has witnessed changes in its rules, modes of exchange and informative interactions between sector professionals and art lovers, navigating towards multiple horizons of transformation. Nevertheless, the urgency of interpersonal encounter and relational immediacy remains vivid, dictated by the desire to know and to experience art in real time, and to continue to be in touch with all the new developments that are emerging on the present scene. Precisely the theme of how all of us will go through the outbreak of transformative experiences in our lives provides the central inspiration for Artissima 2022. A transformative experience opens up new horizons to our senses, our thoughts and emotions, to the point of being able to profoundly change us as people. The American contemporary philosopher Laurie Anne Paul, in her book Transformative Experience, asserts that personally transformative experiences are the ones we cannot rationally predict or anticipate in any way, because nothing can take the place of the living revelation of a territory as yet unknown to us.”
