Established as one of the most relevant sections at Artissima, Present Future has kept giving new gamechangers to the art world for over a decade. This year, the freshest and the most exciting section has been curated by Luigi Fassi, whom we had the pleasure of talking to, along with Anne Faucheret, Hicham Khalidi, Sohrab Mohebbi and Wim Waelput. The team was not gathered around any specific curatorial idea, but was rather led by the contemporary concepts pluralism and ingenuity, as well as expressiveness. At the same time, the equipe aimed to represent art ranging from the far West to the Middle-East, as widely as possible, within a very selective art fair section. Exploring the global art scene in the search for complex, innovative and multifaceted artistic solutions, the group chose twenty participants, currently presented in the central area of the Artissima’s Oval Hall.
Not solely a curated segment, the Present Future is also a form of a competition, where the winner selected by the jury will be awarded the prestigious Premio Illy, promoted by Artissima and illycaffè. Last year bestowed upon the young Alina Chaiderov, many young critics and curators are looking forward to the official announcement for the 2016 with anxiety.
As time passes by, the importance of being featured at Artissima’s Present Future section is becoming increasingly apparent, since the winner of the Illy Prize will have the chance of exhibiting at Castello di Rivoli, while all the participants of the unmistakably small group are given a lot of attention by the most relevant figures in contemporary art.
Spectating the current curatorial selection of the Present Future, our team picked out those booths that are not to be missed!
Cecile B. Evans with Barbara Seiler Galerie Zurich
One of the strongest impressions we experienced at the Present Future section definitely came from the video piece made by Cecile B. Evans. The 40 minute piece entitled “What the Heart Wants” provides an immersive setting, expanding into an installation. The work questions our reality by juxtaposition of the digital and the actual worlds, evaluating the importance of emotions in contemporary society. During the long, intensive viewing experience, the observer is bombarded by excess information, narrated by an inanimate voice from a distant, what appears to be, an post-apocalyptic age. The video has already drawn much attention at the Berlin Biennale, and the viewing queue at Artissima appears to be getting longer by the minute.
View the Cecile B. Evans’ piece at booth PF10.
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