Editorial

For more than three decades, Aurora Fonda has been a distinctive presence in Venice’s contemporary art scene, working across curating, education and exhibition-making. Since taking over the direction of A Plus A in 2003, she has developed the gallery into a space that combines exhibitions with the training of new generations of curators through the School for Curatorial Studies Venice, founded in 2004. Her practice is rooted in research and dialogue, connecting emerging artists from the local scene with international practices and ideas. In this conversation, Fonda reflects on her long relationship with Venice, the evolution of its art scene, the role of education in curatorial practice and the collaborative processes behind exhibitions.

As part of My Art Guides’ ongoing series of dialogues with artists featured in the Vetrina project at Vino Vero Venice, we are pleased to present an interview with artist Marilisa Cosello.
Curated by Mara Sartore, the Vetrina project transforms the display window of Vino Vero into a dynamic platform for contemporary art, inviting women artists to activate the space with site-specific works.

For Vetrina#17, Cosello presented “Siren”, a site-specific installation that takes labour as a political field to intercept the imaginary of the “Office Siren” – the contemporary reactivation of 1990s corporate aesthetics as an object of desire – and to interrogate the condition of the female body as an instrumental function within the productive machine.

Nataša Petrešin Bachelez curates Slovenia’s Pavilion at the Biennale with Soundtrack for an Invisible House, a project developed in collaboration with the Nonument Group. At its centre is the story of a mosque erected in 1917 by the Austro-Hungarian Army near Slovenia’s northwestern border, later dismantled and gradually erased from collective memory. Rather than reconstructing the building, the project brings together archaeological traces, historical research, local voices and a multivocal sound composition to create a space in which its absence can be encountered and considered. Moving between memory, war, migration, religion and national representation, the pavilion explores how histories are remembered, suppressed and carried forward, proposing listening as a form of attention and care.

In this interview, Nataša Petrešin Bachelez discusses the curatorial process, the politics of absence and the possibility of reimagining the national pavilion through voices and histories that have remained unheard.

Italian journalist and founder of AAATHENS Chiara Crespi reflects on the journey that brought her from Paris to Athens and on the creation of a platform designed to make the city’s cultural landscape easier to navigate. In this interview, she discusses the evolution of contemporary art in Greece, the growing role of independent spaces and the cultural geography that connects Athens with the islands. At the heart of her vision lies a desire to build bridges: between artists and audiences, local communities and international visitors, established institutions and emerging projects.

What happens when architecture becomes soft, monuments become places to rest, and history is something to be questioned rather than simply preserved? These are some of the questions at the heart of the work of Andreas Angelidakis (Athens, 1968), one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary art and architecture. Trained as an architect, Angelidakis has spent his career blurring the boundaries between built space, digital culture, memory and performance, creating immersive environments that invite audiences to participate rather than simply observe. Rich in references to classical antiquity, pop culture and the internet, his work combines intellectual depth with an unexpected sense of play. For the 2026 Venice Biennale, he represents Greece with Escape Room, a site-specific installation that transforms the Greek Pavilion into a fluid landscape of "soft ruins", where visitors are encouraged to sit, wander and rethink the spaces—both physical and mental—we inhabit. We met him in Venice to talk about architecture, history, uncertainty and the quiet power of softness.

For Caterina Frongia, craftsmanship is not a practice of preservation but a language through which to speak about the present. Rooted in Sardinian weaving traditions while informed by contemporary visual culture, her work explores movement, migration and transformation as forces that continually reshape identities and knowledge. In this interview, Frongia reflects on the relationship between tradition and innovation, the nomadic nature of textiles, and the cultural landscape of Sardinia today.

To mark the launch of the .ART Award, .ART founder Ulvi Kasimov shares his thoughts on the evolving role of documentation, digital identity, and artistic legacy. From the value of context to the importance of owning one's digital presence, he reflects on how artists can shape their practice in an increasingly digital world.