Art City Bologna 2025: Le Porte della Città
From 6 to 16 February 2025, Art City Bologna returns for its 13th edition, coinciding with Arte Fiera (7-9 February). Promoted by the Municipality of Bologna in collaboration with BolognaFiere, the programme is coordinated by the Modern and Contemporary Art sector of Bologna’s Civic Museums under the artistic direction of Lorenzo Balbi.
The 2025 Special Programme, “Le Porte della Città” (The Gates of the City), explores both the physical and symbolic gateways to Bologna. Ten contemporary art installations are positioned at the city’s surviving historic gates, inviting visitors on an eight-kilometre journey through contemporary artistic expressions intertwined with Bologna’s history. Banca di Bologna, which funds the restoration of the gates between 2007 and 2009, is the 2025 Main Sponsor.
As always, Art City Bologna features a diverse programme of exhibitions, events, and projects from institutions, galleries, and independent spaces, selected for their cultural and artistic significance.
The Gates of the City
Bologna’s gates, dating back to the 14th century, mark the city’s evolution. Originally built for defence, they witness triumphal entries, battles, resistance movements, and civil rights struggles. Today, they remain architectural landmarks and symbols of transition, reflecting shifts between past, present, and future. Their presence in the city’s language—phrases like “Dentro Porta” and “Fuori Porta”—demonstrates their role in everyday life, serving as reference points for orientation and meeting places.
This theme of passage and transformation takes shape in the 2025 Special Programme, where contemporary artists engage with these historic sites:
Porta Mascarella – Angelo Plessas presents “Extropic Optimisms: Portal IV”, a luminous sign-based installation symbolising reconciliation and renewal.
Porta San Donato – Susan Philipsz installs “Deep Water Pulse”, a sound piece evoking submerged worlds and the rhythm of a heartbeat. At the Luigi Bombicci Mineralogy Collection, her photographic series “Elettra” pays tribute to Guglielmo Marconi’s scientific research.
Porta San Vitale – Judith Hopf presents “Phone User 4”, a humorous reflection on unconscious gestures linked to smartphone use. “Phone User 2” is also displayed at Fondazione Zucchelli.
Porta Maggiore – Franco Mazzucchelli disrupts monumentality with a large inflatable PVC sculpture placed inside the gate.
Porta Santo Stefano – Gabrielle Goliath’s video installation “Elegy” commemorates victims of LGBTQIA+ violence in South Africa.
Porta Castiglione – Fatma Bucak presents “Tremendous Gap Between You and Me”, reflecting on the possibility of rebirth from ruins.
Porta Saragozza – Francesco Cavaliere’s “OTTO, doppia curva lingua!” acts as a playful resonance chamber, amplifying thoughts and energy.
Porta San Felice – Dread Scott installs “A Man Was Lynched by Police Yesterday”, a black flag denouncing ongoing racial injustice in the US.
Porta Lame – Valentina Furian presents “Aaaaaaa”, a video exploring subterranean depths and humanity’s primal instincts.
Porta Galliera – Andrea Romano presents “Anteo”, inspired by Anteo Zamboni, the young Bolognese boy killed by fascists for attempting to assassinate Mussolini.
Final Event – Derek MF Di Fabio stages “BARK”, a moving queer choir on bicycles that symbolically connects all the projects in a city-wide procession.
Through these site-specific works, “Le Porte della Città” reimagines Bologna’s historic gates as portals to contemporary artistic dialogue, offering new perspectives on the city’s past, present, and future.
