Artissima 2026: Fancy, A Flexible, Acrobatic Body

From 30 October to 1 November 2026, Artissima returns to the Oval in Turin for its 33rd edition, marking the fifth year of Luigi Fassi’s directorship. Italy’s only art fair exclusively dedicated to contemporary art, Artissima welcomes 183 Italian and international galleries from 35 countries across four continents, including 37 galleries participating for the first time. With 66 monographic projects, the fair continues to focus on artistic research, experimentation and emerging practices, bringing together established galleries and new voices in the international art scene.

This year’s theme, Fancy: A Flexible, Acrobatic Body, draws on the philosophical research of Martha C. Nussbaum and her understanding of imagination as a means of moving beyond the limits of individual experience. In this context, art becomes a form of public intelligence, encouraging encounters with different perspectives and opening up possibilities beyond what is already known. The theme also reflects Artissima’s approach to contemporary art as a field of discovery, where unexpected connections between works, artists and ideas can challenge established ways of seeing and understanding the present.

The fair is organised into seven sections: Main Section, New Entries, Monologue/Dialogue and Art Editions, selected by the fair’s gallery selection committee, alongside the three curated sections Present Future, Back to the Future and Disegni. Together, they offer an overview of contemporary artistic practices, from established international galleries to emerging talents and historical figures whose work has contributed to the development of contemporary art.

Main Section

With 103 galleries, the Main Section forms the core of Artissima 2026, presenting galleries with established positions in the international art scene. The selection includes leading Italian and international spaces, alongside galleries recognised for their commitment to research and the discovery of new artistic practices. Participants include Alfonso Artiaco, ChertLüdde, Galleria Continua, Raffaella Cortese, Thomas Dane, Franco Noero, P420, Lia Rumma, Rossi & Rossi, Sies + Höke, Tucci Russo and Wentrup. The international roster extends across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, reflecting the fair’s role as a meeting point for galleries, collectors, curators and institutions.

New Entries

Dedicated to galleries established less than five years ago and participating in Artissima for the first time, New Entries features 17 galleries from three continents. The section offers a platform for emerging international spaces and their artists, presenting projects that explore different approaches to materials, image-making, sculpture, painting and installation. Among the participating galleries are APARTAMENTO in Marseille, Aspekty in Warsaw, BIJU in Cluj-Napoca, IAH in Seoul, Marli Matsumoto in São Paulo, Night Café in London and ss space space in New Taipei City. The Artissima New Entries Fund also returns for its fourth edition, providing financial support to three selected galleries and reinforcing the fair’s commitment to emerging participants.

Monologue/Dialogue

Monologue/Dialogue brings together 37 galleries proposing either monographic presentations or displays that place the work of two artists in dialogue. The section is dedicated to emerging galleries and spaces with experimental approaches, allowing individual artistic practices and connections between different bodies of work to take centre stage. Its international selection includes galleries from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, with participants such as 1301PE in Los Angeles, A Gentil Carioca in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Cristina Guerra in Lisbon, Luisa Strina in São Paulo, SMAC in Cape Town and ZERO… in Milan. The section also hosts the first edition of the Archivorum Unwritten Award, which supports an artist-led editorial project developed in collaboration with Archivorum.

Art Editions

Art Editions focuses on artists’ editions, prints and multiples, with participating galleries, bookshops, project spaces and non-profit initiatives presenting works that explore the possibilities of reproducible and printed forms. The section includes six participants: Colophonarte, Dreiviertel, L’Arengario, Martincigh, Danilo Montanari and Studio Bruno Tonini. By bringing together different approaches to editions and publishing, Art Editions highlights formats that extend artistic research beyond the unique artwork and offer alternative ways of producing, circulating and collecting contemporary art.

Present Future

Now in its 26th year, Present Future is dedicated to emerging artists and new directions in international contemporary art. Curated by Léon Kruijswijk, Performance Curator at Mudam – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxembourg, and independent curator Joel Valabrega, the section presents ten monographic projects by artists represented by ten galleries, nine of which are international. The selection explores experimentation with materials, techniques and technologies, understood broadly to include craft traditions, industrial processes, and analogue and digital tools. Across sculpture, installation, video, performance and sound, the projects address questions of labour, identity and coexistence, examining how processes of making shape both the world around us and our understanding of it. The section also hosts the 26th edition of the illy Present Future Prize, which recognises one of the participating artists.

Back to the Future

Back to the Future is dedicated to monographic presentations of pioneering artists whose practices have contributed to the history of contemporary art. Curated by Heike Munder, Director of Art and Design School F+F in Zurich and Honorary Director of Simose Art Museum in Japan, and independent curator Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, the section features ten artists represented by international and Italian galleries. The 2026 selection focuses on artists who, between the 1930s and the 1990s, challenged the social and cultural conditions of their time. Their work reflects on the relationship between artistic practice and society, addressing forms of dissent alongside the aspirations and possibilities that inform individual and collective experience. By revisiting these practices, the section brings renewed attention to artists whose work continues to offer relevant perspectives on the present.

Disegni

Celebrating its tenth edition, Disegni is the only section at an Italian art fair dedicated exclusively to drawing. Curated for the fifth consecutive year by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of Collezione Ramo and Milano Drawing Week, the section presents ten monographic projects by ten galleries, four of which are Italian. The selected artists work across a range of techniques on paper, highlighting drawing’s immediacy and its role in translating an idea into a visual form. The presentations also demonstrate the medium’s expressive range, addressing political, social and psychological themes through distinct approaches to mark-making, composition and the material qualities of paper.

Prizes, acquisitions and curatorial initiatives

Alongside its gallery presentations, Artissima continues to support artistic research through a programme of prizes, acquisitions and professional initiatives. The fair promotes twelve prizes in collaboration with companies, foundations and cultural institutions, recognising artists and galleries at different stages of their careers. Fondazione Arte CRT renews its acquisition fund of €300,000 for works to enter the collections of GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino and Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. The 2026 edition also introduces The Curators’ Choice, a programme inviting international curators to identify galleries whose presentations they consider particularly significant. These initiatives reinforce Artissima’s role as both a commercial platform and a space for research, exchange and the development of contemporary art.