Another year passed by and we would like to glance to what happened in the last months. We visited numerous exhibitions in Bologna and beyond, starting with the Bolognese Art Week, two Milanese art fairs and the Venice Biennale. Later we reported on exhibitions in Bologna, Florence, Bremen, Ferrara and San Gimignano. Moreover, we continued with the artworks of the months by artists of different corners of the world and published three artist interviews.
January
Cally Lotz from Australia offered her “Bucket & Reflection” as artwork of the month January. It seems to be a hyper-realistic still life, but touches also other phenomena of art history.
We made 10 proposals for exhibitions in town during the Bolognese Art City 2019 in galleries, museums and other institutions.
February
Like a luminous island appears Alessia Rollo’s illuminated greenhouses in the dark night. With her artwork of the month – taken from her series “Fata Morgana” – the Italian artist wants to question about reality and myth.
The SetUp Contemporary Art Fair was “Going to Ithaca” and the Arte Fiera showed up in a new clarity with interesting outlooks.
In parallel to the art fairs, a lot happened during the Arte City in Bologna. Artists reflected on “Exclusion, Inclusion and Disturbance”, others glanced into the future and still others made poetic installations between heaven and underground.
March
With her collage “Door, NY, 1986” Betty Zanelli referred to found doors, deprived from their original function between Italy and New York. Primary conceived as sketch, the presented image became an independent artwork.
April
The Dutch artist Tamara Stoffers creates her vison of the Soviet Union in newly assembled images, made out of ancient photos of the bygone state.
At the Milanese MIA Photo Fair, 135 exhibitors presented wide-ranging photographs from purely analogue pictures to highly digitalized images.
May
Katherina Belkina transferred the story of Salome and St. John into our contemporary time, where Salome is “Receiving Orders” via headphones.
We glanced back at the miart 2019, where generations and different cultural backgrounds met.
Later in May, we visited the 58th Venice Biennale. Under the title “Concealed, vanished and reappeared”, we wrote about our first impressions of several national pavilions and the main exhibition.
June
Glenda León created the artwork of the month of June. With her video “Inversion II” the Cuban artist reflects on the meaning of money.
In the context of the 58th Venice Biennale, we had the occasion to interview Dane Mitchell, this year’s artist of the New Zealand Pavilion. With “Post hoc” he paid attention to bygone phenomena.
With his solo exhibition “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything and Everywhere” at the MAMbo, Julian Charrière invited the visitors to plunge into the submarine world and to pop up from time to time.
As every year, the Accademia di Belli Arti in Bologna, went on “Opentour”. Under the slogan “On the Road again” galleries throughout the city hosted the students in numerous group and solo exhibitions.
July
Before the summer break, we reminded our first six artworks of the month in 2019.
In the exhibition “Where do we go from here?” at the Galleria Enrico Astuni, Christian Jankowski questioned about the relation between artist and audience.
On the occasion of the 80th birthday of the German painter, ceramist and object maker Jürgen Waller, we republished an interview, that we made with him in 2010: “The people did not want to be reminded to this”.
In Bremen, there were four exhibitions for Jürgen Waller’s 80th birthday, to honour the former rector of the University of Fine Arts in town.
Moreover, the Florence based gallery Contemporanea 2 presented “Tim Porter – Fotografia”, an exhibition curated by the Brussels based gallerist Didier Devillez.
August
Summer break
September
After the summer break, we restarted with an interview with Lars Breuer who is artist, curator and teacher at the same time.
The artwork of the month September by Ester Grossi stimulates our senses by a minimal language of simplification. At the same time, the artist refers to an instrument of torture.
“May You Live In Interesting Times” was the title of the 58th Venice Biennale. We revisited the main exhibition in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini and the Arsenale with regard to the theme.
October
In her series “Second Hand”, Zhanna Kadyrova recycles old tiles to create new objects in shape of clothes. The Ukrainian artist’s intervention in Kyiv (Kiev) at the territory of the ancient Darnitski Silk Factory was the artwork of the month.
The Bolognese autumn season started with many exhibitions presenting a wide range of different artists with diverse techniques and subjects.
At the MLB Maria Livia Brunelli Gallery in Ferrara, in cooperation with the Podbielski Contemporary from Milan, Agnese Purgatorio and Francesco Di Giovanni questioned about the arrival of migrants in their country of destination.
Moataz Nasr carried us at the Galleria Continua in San Gimignano into an oriental world in transition: a “Lost Paradise”?
November
Valeria Vaccaro’s “Urban Platform” seems to be an ordinary object of utility. Nevertheless, the artwork of the month is made of a very precious material.
December
“Utopia XXII” is part of Inna Artemova’s series “Future Structures”. With this artwork of month, the artist imagines a prospect architecture in a digitalised world.
Thank you for following us in 2019. We hope you’ll be again our guest in 2020!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!