If you are a photography lover, want to spend a cultural time out, or when hearing the word ‘look there…’, your hand unconsciously reaches for the phone not capture a good shot, you definitely have heard and maybe even anticipated MIA Photo Fair, which takes place annually in the beginning of March in Milan. Eights Edition attracted over 25 thousand visitors, including world experts and collectors to appreciate art represented by 90 galleries from 13 countries. Directed by Fabio Castelli and his daughter Lorenza Castelli (who graduated from Bocconi University and later Harvard University), the event promotes contemporary photography and moving image, hosting a series of talks addressing the modern trends in the market system, books’ presentations, as well as raising current legal and political issues. This year 25,000 admissions were received to participate in the Solo show and Group show sections, while 85% of the galleries have sold their artworks during the event.
MIA has six sponsored awards that include: BNL BNP Paribas Group Award (photography which will supplement Banks’s art collection), Proposta MIA Award, Eberhard & Co. | ArtOnTime Award (promoting research in the language of performance), Award Codice MIA (assigned by a jury of international art collectors), RaM Sarteano Award and Piaceri d’Italia Award (an acquisition award for emerging artists).
Regardless of your interests, you could find art to your taste. Humorous or creative, abstract or historical, nude or experimental, submerging into the fair’s buzzing atmosphere will get you inspired and overwhelmed with discovery of how multifaceted the power of imagination can be. The framework of a fair invites anyone to meet artists and their representatives to hear stories behind the scenes and understand the thought processes behind their work.
In one day you could travel with Steve McCurry, encounter young Donald Trump and Salvador Dali, witness the disappearance of Duomo from the dominant meeting spot of Milan, discover South African art by Siwa Mgoboza, admire prominent artists such as Annie Leibovitz, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Harry Benson, and Edmond Kesting, get architectural rapture from works of Piero Mollica, see how Liu Bolin blurs with the background like a chameleon, and even guess Chirico’s influence in the works of Wang Ping.
