This year I am writing my formal critique of the 31st edition of Artissima in bullet points. Art fair management is serious business. So none of that lofty, "artsy" bourgeois stuff. Also, this way, it'll be punchier for those who tend to take a nap after twenty seconds of reading. Wake up and smell the "roses". 

• The theme of the 31st edition of Artissima was "The Era of Daydreaming". After several points of criticism on how the theme did not match the fair content last year, I am happy to return with further fresh analysis. It was sufficient to stand outside the Press Entrance to witness that there was no one daydreaming. Perhaps the only people daydreaming (only for the day) were the ultra-rich who come to show their faces at this most renowned Italian contemporary art fair. Waiting for my designated ticket time before walking through the press entrance, I observed a journalist who arrived with her three-year old daughter in a pushchair. It doesn't take a degree in psychology to notice that both her and her little daughter were there out of obligation. To assuage her grumpy toddler, she peeled back the skin on a banana as she talked on the phone to someone faraway, perhaps a partner who’s travelling for work, and asked to call later. Obligation is a terrible reason to do anything. But we are all obliged one way or another, and she too had to wait for her ticket time to be validated. It is so silly for there to be a designated time to enter a fair that lasts only 4 days, and sprawls across the centre of Turin. Please note that this observation was recorded on Sunday, 3 November, the fourth and final day of Artissima. Please note, it was not a busy morning.

• My environmental concerns about the fair have been concretised once again in 2024. Let’s not daydream about the pollution Artissima (or for that matter, any fair) inflicts on the planet! That is why it is important to think and write about these things! With partners like Intesa San Paolo, Jaguar, illycaffé, Juventus and Azimut Yachts as well as several others such as the Ministry of Culture, and media giants Il Giornale dell'Arte, La Stampa, Rai Culture, Rai Radio 1, and Sky Arte, if Artissima cannot become more environmentally-aware, then no fair stands a chance. To do it, you need to will it, Mr. Fassi. Speaking of whom, seemed more personally engaged in taking on a visible role as the director of Artissima for the second year. I sent an email to PCM Studio, the Press Office and Communications of Artissima, to request a brief email interview with Fassi. To this day I have not received a response. Mr Fassi only gives interviews to those who will ask him questions according to his liking, in effect directed mostly by himself. And of course, he gives other interviews in Italian, too. Artissima is supposedly the largest international contemporary art fair of Italy, it should have a global audience. Although, I received a nice message of support from Renzo Taddei, the anthropologist whose work inspired Artissima's theme in 2023, I would have expected some correspondence from Artissima itself, especially because I attended the fair with a Press Pass in 2023. I have the inkling that they were already daydreaming then and they still are now.  I reckon it's time to wake up and shoo away those dreamy clouds. 

• An anonymous gallerist who has been attending the fair consecutively for over 20 years informed me – on the fourth and closing day of the fair - that I am the first and only person who talked to him in English. There’s a serious lack of an international audience. He was concerned about the sales as well. He told me that the Artissima team work very hard to put together the fair every year and he deeply appreciates all their efforts. That is why he wished to remain anonymous. He also added his concerns that the global political agenda does not currently inspire investors to spend. Let's see how the slowdown in the art market will pick up in the aftermath of US elections. I also have to report that I noted that some of the galleries that participated last year were not present this year. 

• Last year I wrote that I wouldn’t go to Artissima 2024, and that perhaps I would go to The Others. The fact is, until mid-October I thought they wouldn’t issue a press pass to me again. Then I wondered, why not try? So I submitted the form to request a press pass and I was - to my surprise - issued one. I am glad that they are open to those who are critical of the way the fair is organised and managed. After all, Italy is a European Union country, and we enjoy a good deal of freedom of thought and freedom of press. So, I thought good behaviour needs to be rewarded and decided to give Artissima another chance. Having lived in Italy for just over two years, I have met quite a lot of people in the arts and realised that - as elsewhere - there’s a deep social, rhetorical, and economic divide between those who make money from art and those who don’t.  Unfortunately, I also observed that given the opportunity, those who pretend to make art because they “live and breathe it” would quickly switch from being part of “the other” to “the glamourous mainstream.” I felt that the following sub-points are worth writing partly in capitals:

1. WHAT IS THE POINT OF WRITING ABOUT ART IF WE ARE NOT GOING TO SAY WHAT WE ARE THINKING? WHY DO WE HAVE TO GAG OURSELVES? WHY DO WE FEEL OBLIGED TO MAKE A POSITIVE REMARK WHEN SOMETHING IS DEFICIENT? Look where that diplomatic approach has gotten us to as a society… The political far-right is on the rise. Meanwhile, we, the thinking people are being ignored and made to feel insecure, powerless. ART IS POLITICS. POLITICS HAS A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON THE ART MARKET. I project that there will be a mass devaluation in contemporary art in the next decade. 

2. WHAT IS THE POINT OF PRAISING THINGS THAT ARE DERIVATIVE AND USELESS? WE NO LONGER LIVE IN THE AGE OF KEEPING UP APPEARANCES, Thanks to social media, EVERYONE CAN SEE THROUGH ONE ANOTHER. 

3. WHY ARE WE NOT SEEING MORE CRITICISM OF THE ARTS INDUSTRY IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA WHEN PUBLISHERS, GALLERISTS AND ART-LOVERS FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS ARE DISGRUNTLED IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER?

• I can honestly tell you that WOW (Worlds of Words)  – the second chapter of the three-year program Identity - did not make me go, "Wow"! It should have been brimming with people. There wasn’t a sufficient number of interesting talks, and attendance was lower than it should have been. An anonymous arts magazine publisher informed me that being tucked away on the far-right side of the Oval did not help the visibility of his stand and led to a shockingly low-rate of new subscribers. We talk about the doom and gloom of arts publications… I am told by publishers in general that even though there are more books being printed people are reading less and also, less attentively. There is no future in publishing smart-looking, well-edited magazines because those that are full of errors but look glamorous bring in the same sales revenue, if not higher. We concur that the whole publishing section should be moved from the tail end of the fair to the centre. It should take its place in the heart of Artissima, because without magazines and books most people don’t have a way of making sense of the conceptual art they are seeing. Artissima should take a stronger position on supporting the livelihoods of the people working in this industry. Without them, there won’t be any arts journalism or advertising. It’s one thing to pay to advertise your fair in the front pages of a magazine, and another thing to show some actual interest in the people behind the glossy pages of those publications. It's easy to rent out your booths and stands to these publications but it is not so easy for them to make a decent return on their participation. Likewise, the attention given to the press was minimal. A few desks and easy does it. 

• If I was the Director of Artissima (just to clarify, I would never take on such a role, at best I could advise such a VIP on what one simply must not do!), I would seriously look into doing a survey on gallery, customer, and visitor satisfaction to see how I can improve in my own role. Upon entering the fair on 31st October, I had to pay a visit to the restrooms. Needless to say, they smelled foul and were dirty. That was indeed the first day, the Press Preview, at 3 pm. However, this is a very small concern considering the number of bullet-points I now find myself jotting down. Also, what about the dates this year! 1-3 November! It clashed not only with Halloween, but also All Saints' Day (1st November), a national holiday when people go to lay wreaths and flowers at the graves of their loved ones who are often buried far away from those who want to visit them, so people tend to make a weekend of it if the day falls on a weekend day. We all know Artissima is supposed to be held on the first weekend of November, but what about a little flexibility? No wonder there was low footfall! Art is first and foremost for the people!

• When it comes to the artistic vision of the exhibiting galleries, there’s little worth mentioning. It's like a cattle market. Though, there were some works that piqued my interest. You can scroll down to see my top-picks from Artissima 2024. I don’t have the slightest doubt that organising and managing an annual art fair spanning continents and bringing together 189 galleries is an easy task. However, one must open one’s eyes and take a look the realities of the world in which we try to survive, and perhaps come to terms with the fact that “daydreaming” is not what is going to carry us into the future. Once again, the US election results have shown us that daydreaming can cost the planet a burden that is impossible to bear. I have never before seen photos of crying people in the aftermath of a democratic election. Likewise, I have never seen such sadness in the eyes of gallerists who have paid thousands of euros to participate in an art fair and have found it hard to justify the expense. 

• Prizes are great for recognising the skill and capacity of contemporary artists. To me though, what others consider to be of great artistic value does not always ring true. As I mentioned, art is politics. Most often, an artist may be awarded for their effort in creating something previously unseen by the Western gaze, especially if they are from another part of the world. Then, the work of that particular artist becomes a trend, and you see all sorts of people playing with the ideas of that artist. I call it daylight robbery; you call it engagement, interaction, dialogue. And I fear to think that it only leads to commercialism and consumption. What I mean is: I love Frida Kahlo’s paintings, but I would hate to wear a t-shirt or a hat with a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo on it. Thus, I am not going to advertise the prizes given to various artists at Artissima in 2024 by writing about them here. Sometimes people in the art market seem to have contorted ideas about what an arts journalist’s work entails. In short, it includes describing, examining, analysing, contextualising, and criticising the art at hand. However, it certainly does not involve advertising the work of a particular artist for financial gain or personal favours. That is, if you have some integrity. In any case, please feel free to go and type “prizes Artissima 2024” into any search engine to see what has been deemed worthy.

• I think what would indeed be better than giving out prizes to artists would be to actually provide them with the life-long support they require to produce their works, hone their skills and broaden their horizons. A one-time prize - even if you are fortunate enough to be rewarded several of those - is not sufficient to get artists to continue working, especially when the art market is dependent on the rich and the rich tend to have "short arms." The crux of the matter is that art is not affordable to the common man, it never has been and it never will be. 

• Although I run the risk of being crucified for saying this, there are far too many "artists" out there. At Artissima, too. It has become too easy to call oneself anything one wants to identify as. Not every artist who claims to be an artist is an "artist." Not every artist is good enough to be represented by a gallery. But they are, and they will continue to be... 

Thank you for reading. Now you can sit back, scroll, and see my top 8 gallery picks from Artissima 2024. Why 8, and not 10? Not everything has to be rounded up to a number that sounds good to the ear. Also, the selection is in no particular order of personal preference. That is why I have not numbered them. Please additionally note that the list has been put together in terms of artistic merit and contemporary relevance and not in favour of a particular gallery or artist. Furthermore, I wish for the list to be commentary-free. That way everyone is freer to put their imagination to work. After all, I suppose this is when daydreaming can be of use. 

As always, yours truly kept it advertising free, and free for all to enjoy. 

Dedicated to the memory of Liliana Maresca (May 8, 1951 – November 13, 1994) who died exactly 30 years ago today. 

Featured in the Monologue Dialogue section of Artissima 2024. 

Chto Delat, For Whom the Bell Tolls, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 148 x 210 cm.