MIA Fair – Milan Image Art Fair 2014

© Roberto Cifarelli – Banana Zip – 2012 – fine art print – cm. 30 x 30 – Edition 7/25 - Courtesy Roberto Cifarelli

MIA Fair is back: 200 Italian and international exhibitors will present established artists and emerging photographers from all over the world, according to its unique original formula: one booth for each artist – each artist with his/her own catalogue.

It’s already time for MIA - Milan Image Art Fair, the international photography art fair conceived in Italy is now also ready to make its debut in Asia in 2014, aiming to become an all-important reference point for photography and art enthusiasts and collectors.
After the event in Milan (Superstudio Più, Via Tortona 27) from 23rd to 25th May 2014, MIA Fair will be a double bill on the international exhibition art scenario with the opening - from 24th to 26th October 2014 - of MIA FAIR SINGAPORE.
Now in its fourth edition, directed by Fabio Castelli, MIA Fair hosts the best of the world of photography under a format unique on the Italian art-fair scene, proposing one booth for each artist – each artist with his/her own catalogue which, as from this year, will be in an innovative format, switching from the traditional hard copy to the e-book format.

The event, with the patronage of Regione Lombardia, Provincia di Milano and Comune di Milano, can once again count on its partners BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, Lavazza, BMW i, Eberhard & Co. and Nikon.

© Nicolò Quirico, Italy I regoli 2013 Inkjet on Velvet Epson Fine Art 170x150 cm Courtesy Costantini Art Gallery
 

“In just a few seasons - says Fabio Castelli - MIA Fair has brought a wave of positive energy to the world of Italian photography. In 2014 MIA Fair will be particularly inspiring, with a number of new developments: the year opened with the success in terms of public and sales achieved at Arte Fiera in Bologna where, for the first time, we were in charge of a section entirely dedicated to photography. Ideally, 2014 will close with the prestigious MIA Fair Singapore, scheduled to be held in Marina Bay Sands from 23rd to 26th October.

The fourth MIA Fair Milano will offer many new quality exhibits and features, studied and organised by my staff with their usual dedication and attention to detail, which I am certain will satisfy the expectations of our exhibitors and the public”.
In 2013, MIA Fair achieved a important success with the public: 20,000 collectors, journalists and art and design enthusiasts visited the booths, admiring the works presented by the 230 exhibitors and taking part in the 10 round tables, 18 publishing presentations and 20 book signing sessions organised with international guests.

At the next edition, there will be around 200 exhibitors – including galleries, independent photographers and specialist publishers – not only from Italy but also from Europe and the rest of the world, selected by the scientific committee consisting of: 3/3 photography projects - Rome, photographic image research studio; Gigliola Foschi, curator and journalist; Elio Grazioli, contemporary art critic and curator; Roberto Mutti, curator and photographic critic; Enrica Viganò, curator, photographic critic and organiser of events connected with photography.

As it does every year, MIA Fair offers a programme with many new features, including: the Mila Malerba Award, artistic/musical performance by the singer Irene Grandi and the video artists Pastis, and the “Caffè Artistico” curatorial project by Lavazza.
LAVAZZA “CAFFÈ ARTISTICO” SPECIAL PROJECT

© Federica Valabrega Italy Untitle 2010 Giclèe print 70X100 cm courtesy of the artist 2010
 

MIA Fair announces a new project “Caffè Artistico”, promoted by Lavazza. Lavazza has been the official partner of MIA Fair right from the first edition, and in 2014 will have a new role as Main Sponsor, hosting in its own exclusive space a section dedicated to 6 photographers presented by 3 international curators. Lavazza thus reconfirms its inseparable link with fine art photography, a universal language that represents the Company’s identity in the world, with its calendars and advertising campaigns created by the best-known artists in contemporary photography. The curators invited by MIA Fair and by Francesca Lavazza - Lavazza Corporate Image Director - are: Antonio Arévalo, (Chile), Luca Panaro (Italy) and Francesco Zanot (Italy). Each of the three curators has selected two emerging artists who will exhibit an unpublished or newly created project on a monographic booth. Antonio Arévalo will present the work by Ricardo Miguel Hernandez, La Habana, 1984 and Graziano Folata, Rho, 1982; Luca Panaro will present the work by Guido Meschiari, Carpi, 1982 and Matilde Soligno, Bologna, 1980; Francesco Zanot will present the work by Francesco Neri, Faenza, 1982 and by the association The Cool Couple (Niccolò Benetton, Milan, 1986 and Simone Santilli, Portogruaro, 1987).

CODICE MIA – PORTFOLIO REVIEW Following on from the excellent results achieved in 2013, the show will once again feature CODICE MIA, an innovative portfolio reading completely dedicated to the photographic market, conceived and organised by Enrica Viganò. Only 45 photographers, selected by the scientific committee, will be chosen to submit their portfolio to some of the leading experts in collecting at international level, such as Joe Baio, collector, New York, Anne-Marie Beckmann, curator art Collection Deutsche Börse, Frankfurt, Rudi Bianchi, collector, Los Angeles, Frank Boehm, art advisor, Milan, Lisa K. Erf, director of JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, Joaquim Paiva, collector, Rio de Janeiro, Alessandro Malerba, collezionista, Milano, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, collector and director of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Janina Vitale, curator of the DZ BANK collection, Frankfurt, Alice Zimet, collector and art advisor, New York. CODICE MIA is a unique occasion for mid-career and established artists, to meet under one roof the most important opinion leaders in the sector and an opportunity for them to open new doors in their artistic path.

© Ildiko Péter Italy Salt Mills and the Leeds–Liverpool Canal, Shipley, England 2012 Digital Print 130x105 cm Courtesy Faur Zsófi Gallery
 

CODICE MIA will be held on Saturday 24th May 2014: each of the participants will have the chance to present their work to 4 trendsetters in the photographic market, at meetings lasting 20 minutes each. The event will culminate in a prize for the artist with greatest personality chosen by the jury of all the experts present. A booth at the 2015 edition of MIA fair will be reserved, free of charge, for the winner.

The CODICE MIA 2013 award was assigned to Bjorn Sterri, who will exhibit his works at the next edition of MIA Fair. The Norwegian photographer captivated the jury with an extraordinary and intimate photographic study of his family.
MILA MALERBA AWARD MIA Fair will host the first edition of the Mila Malerba Award designed for the participants of the workshop

“From photography to the digital image. History, languages, market”, organised by Francesco Cascino, Fabio Castelli and Walter Guadagnini, in conjunction with the Cultural Association ARTEPRIMA scheduled to be held on 5th and 6th April at La Forgiatura in Via Varesina 158, Milan. The prize will be awarded to the winner who, also in the light of the seminar proceedings, will identify an artist’s work among the ones exhibited at MIA Fair and will formulate in writing the most convincing critical appraisal, which will be then judged by a jury. The prize-winner will be allocated € 2.000 to purchase a work of his/her choice from those exhibited at MIA Fair.

BNL GRUPPO BNP PARIBAS AWARD Also this year BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, strengthening its interest in the development of contemporary art in Italy, confirms the prize in the form of purchase of a work selected by the award jury for the BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas Art Collection.

© Diego Ferrari
Suspension Of Consciousness, 2012
C-print
104x78 cm
ed. 5
Diego Ferrari / Gasket Gallery
 

PASTIS & IRENE GRANDI

MIA Fair will be the showcase for the newly born collaboration between the Italian singer Irene Grandi and the video artists Pastis. The Pastis is a duo composed by the Florentine brothers Marco and Saverio Lanza who melts photography and music in a new hybrid form of art language. During the music and video innovative live performance hosted in a unique event at MIA Fair, Irene Grandi will interact with the Pastis’ video developing with her own voice the sparks suggested by the video.
ARCHIVE AWARD “TEMPO RITROVATO - FOTOGRAFIE DA NON PERDERE” MIA Fair hosts the second edition of the Award “Tempo Ritrovato - fotografie da non perdere”, conceived by IO Donna, in conjunction with MIA Fair, Eberhard & Co., the Museum of Contemporary Photography of Cinisello Balsamo and with the support of Regione Lombardia. The award focuses on private archives of Italian photographers, often forgotten today, whose work represents a heritage of artistic importance and great documentary value. The archives competing for the award explore all the various forms of photographic language, including portraits, landscapes, fashion, design, photojournalism and architecture. After awarding the prize, in 2013, to the archive of Federico Garolla for its documentation of the 50s, the “Tempo Ritrovato - fotografie da non perdere” award will examine the archives of photographers who were active in the 60s. The Scientific Committee of the Archive Award is composed of Fabio Castelli (MIA Fair), Renata Ferri (IO Donna – Corriere della Sera magazine), Laura Gasparini (Photographic Archives of the Panizzi Library, Reggio Emilia), Lucia Miodini (Communication Studies and Archive Centre, University of Parma) and Roberta Valtorta (Museum of Contemporary Photography of Cinisello Balsamo). The Award consists of a contribution of € 8,000 which will be paid in order to support the costs of work necessary for stocktaking, cataloguing, digitalisation in high resolution, conservation and restoration of the works of the winning archive. The work must be carried out according to the indications of the Scientific Committee of the Award. While the show is on, MIA Fair will host an exhibition of the archive, in the Eberhard & Co. dedicated space, and will organise a round table to celebrate the work of the artist.

BORN ELECTRIC BY BMW i COMPETITION

Also this year BMW i, partner of MIA Fair since its second edition, confirms its participation, promoting the photographic competition Born Electric by BMW i, in conjunction with MIA Fair and Nikon Italia. The entrants in the on-line competition - http://bornelectric.bmw.it/ - are required to submit photographs on the theme of sustainable mobility, the focus of the environmental philosophy developed by BMW and by the sub brand BMW i, via the production of low emission vehicles, like the new electric city car BMW i3. The winner will be selected by a committee during MIA Fair.

PROPOSTA MIA

Following on from the other editions and on the strength of the success obtained, the event will once again include the Proposta MIA section, containing the works of artists who exhibit without the support of galleries. MIA Fair aims to propose photographers selected by its own Scientific Committee, offering galleries the chance to make new contacts.
Out of approximately 25 artists at each edition, over 50% of them exhibited the following year, represented by a gallery.

MIA FAIR SINGAPORE

After the success attained at the events in Milan, MIA Fair makes its debut in the Far East. From 23rd to 26th October 2014, Marina Bay Sands will host the first edition of MIA Fair Singapore, simultaneously with the 4th Singapore International Photography Festival. MIA Fair therefore opens up to new global markets, in the city which is the new capital of art in the South Pacific and one of the main world financial centres. To mark the occasion, the exhibition format will change: each exhibitor can present on his/her own booth an exhibition project with other artists.
Media partner AD, Artguideeast, Arte, Artribune, Corriere della Sera, Exibart, Giornale dell’Arte, Io Donna, Uomo Vogue, Vogue