MILAN.- 148 international galleries of modern and contemporary art and design will be on hand at miart 2014, from 28 to 30 March in pavilion 3 of fieramilanocity: 60 foreign exhibitors, from 20 different countries, account for 45% of the participants in the fair directed by Vincenzo de Bellis and organized by Fiera Milano.

There are four sections in this 19th edition of miart: Established (divided into the Master area, with a selection of 42 galleries presenting historically acclaimed artists, and the Contemporary area with 64 galleries specializing in contemporary art); Emergent for 20 avant-garde galleries that focus on the research of young talents; THENnow, an invitational section, featuring 18 galleries whose booths offer face-offs between one historically established artist and another from a more recent generation; Object, with a selection of 10 galleries active in the promotion of contemporary design objects produced as limited editions and approach as works of art.

Conflux is a new platform that presents 5 different site-specific projects by international contemporary artists represented by important galleries from Latin America, the Middle East, the United States and Europe.

“Art in all its forms has always represented a factor of historical and cultural excellence of our country – says Michele Perini, President of Fiera Milano – and Milan is one of the most vital centers for modern and contemporary art: this is why, once again, we are proud that miart and Milan are confirming their role as a theater of this incredible world of creativity, freedom and culture, but also business, bringing new dynamic energy to this sector in Italy and abroad.”

“During miart Milan fully reveals its role as a capital of art and innovation, culture and the avant-garde, tradition and experimentation – says Alderman for Culture Filippo Del Corno. – The city also demonstrates, to artists, art dealers and the international audience, its extraordinary capacity to form a system and to create synergies between public and private spaces, gathering together for one weekend art lovers and buyers, artists and critics in a grand celebration that cannot help but confirm the international dimension of Milan.”

A new cycle of miartalks, in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Mailand, will take place during the days of the fair, with a platform for 14 contributions including lectures, conversations and interviews, involving 38 international personalities including artists, designers, museum directors, fashion designers, critics, curators and collectors, addressing the themes of production and distribution, developing a program with different variations on the four cornerstones that make Milan a city of reference on an international scale: art, collecting, design and fashion, coordinated respectively by Edoardo Bonaspetti, editor, Mousse Magazine; Alessandro Rabottini, curator at large, GAMeC Bergamo and MADRE Naples; Maria Cristina Didero, independent curator, Milan, and Director of Fondazione Bisazza, Vicenza; Alessia Glaviano, senior editor, Vogue, Milan. There will also be a series of special miartalks in collaboration with an innovative publishing project: 2014 series – three conversations between two speakers on the theme of time in relation to making, curating and analyzing art – will be produced in collaboration with 2014, the new publication released every five years, created by the independent curator and director of NERO Magazine Luca Lo Pinto, focusing on artists’ projects, essays, reissued texts, and images found in vintage advertising.

As at the last edition of the fair, the Prizes and Acquisition Funds are moving forward, in collaboration with institutional partners: Fondo di Acquisizione Giampiero Cantoni di Fondazione Fiera Milano; Premio Emergent; Premio Rotary Club Milano Brera for contemporary art and young artists. The collaboration with FRAC Champagne Ardenne also continues; this institution has chosen miart as the ideal format for acquisitions of contemporary art for its public collections.

Once again this year Mousse has developed the new, surprising graphic design for the fair, and Martino Berghinz has designed the exhibit installation, reprising the success of the last edition, based on minimal structures and black-and-white contrast to best adapt to all the types of art on view, welcoming visitors into a situation of maximum comfort.

For the 2014 edition miart updates and expands its close collaboration with all the public and private players operating in the promotion and study of art in Milan, with The Spring Awakening, a program of events, openings and special viewing hours around the city, involving about thirty public institutions, foundations and private galleries, starting on 21 March, the spring equinox, and continuing throughout miart 2014. Every day features a special opening: from Palazzo Reale with the large exhibition on Piero Manzoni, to PAC—Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, with a show by Regina José Galindo, to the GAM—Galleria d’Arte Moderna, with “Year after Year. Works on paper from the UBS Art Collection,” followed by HangarBicocca with a retrospective on Cildo Meireles and the show by Micol Assaël, and the Milan Triennale with the exhibitions of two artists of the future, Ian Cheng and Michael E. Smith.

In 2014 it is renewd the collaboration with ACACIA- the Association of Friends of contemporary Art in Italy, that presents the eleventh edition of its Prize, reserved to a young artist, with the aim of supporting and promoting creativity. During miart 2014 the two winners of the prize in 2013 and 2014 will show work in two INVITO exhibitions, open to collectors, journalists and sector professionals, to create a link with the fair and its audience.

The VIP program is more intense than ever, welcoming international guests including collectors, sector professionals and museum directors, who can attend special viewings during the days of the fair, with a series of visits to the most interesting private collections in the city and its vicinity.

Another very important feature is the collaboration between Fondazione Nicola Trussardi and miart 2014, which began at last year’s edition. This year a new special project has been co-produced, for the weekend evenings during miart, at the Ulrico Hoepli Civic Planetarium of Milan, a masterpiece by the architect Piero Portaluppi, inviting international artists to create works precisely for its spaces. For three evenings, under the starry sky of the Planetarium, installations, multimedia projections, sound and video projects narrate stories of constellations and parallel, boundless universes.

“The extensive participation of public institutions in the miart project, and the updated collaboration with Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, which I am very pleased to announce at this first presentation – says Vincenzo de Bellis – fully represent the spirit of miart, both in the direction of relations with Milanese institutions, and in terms of the artistic research that transforms the fair format into a producer of meaning, and above all a major amplifier and catalyst of the finest experiences of the territory, all simultaneously available to the public.”