Transformative Experience is the theme chosen for the 29th edition of Artissima in Turin, the first directed by Luigi Fassi. That transformative Experience is a concept developed by American philosopher Laurie Anne Paul (Yale University). According to Paul, a transformative experience can radically change the person who experiences it, challenging their rationally prefigured expectations and opening perspectives into the unknown. The fair, which opened its doors to the public on Friday, November 4, will end on Sunday, November 6.
“The art world,” – Luigi Fassi explains – “has seen in recent years as a whole changing rule, modes of exchange and interaction (…) navigating towards multiple horizons of transformation. However, the urgency of encounter and the direct relationship has remained more alive and burning than ever, dictated by the desire to know and live the Experience of art in real-time and to continue to learn what is new emerging on the present scene.” Hence the inspiration for this edition of Artissima 2022.
“A transformative experience opens up new horizons to our senses, thoughts, and emotions, even to the point of being able to change us deeply as people.” In her book Transformative Experience, Laurie Anne Paul argues that personally transformative experiences are those we cannot rationally anticipate or prefigure because nothing can replace their vivid manifestation as a revelation of unknown territory.
“At a time when many institutional models of contemporary art presentation are changing,” Luigi Fassi continues, “the twenty-ninth edition of Artissima in Turin tells first and foremost of the fair’s ability to strengthen its dual identity as a market platform and cultural production, enriching both perspectives.
Fassi applauds the emergence of the quality of the fair’s Italian and international network, which “has deployed its research efforts globally to continue to offer collectors and museum operators a discovery experience with works, galleries, and artists of the highest caliber from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia.” 42 galleries are participating in Artissima for the first time in 2022, testifying to “the fair’s attractiveness and its catalytic capacity for experiments, research and investment.”
There are four established sections of the fair-Main Section, New Entries, Monologue/Dialogue, and Art Spaces & Editions, three curated sections-Designs, Present Future, and Back to the Future-with the participation of 174 Italian and international galleries, with 35 monographic projects. Artissima 2022 galleries come from 28 countries and four continents.
Sponsored for the first time by the Ministry of Culture, the fair is realized through the support of the three brand-owning institutions, jointly Fondazione CRT, Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and the Turin Chamber of Commerce.
