Attilia Fattori Franchini is the curator of Emergent, a section of miart dedicated to galleries supporting emerging positions in contemporary art. Since 2017, her curatorial vision has shaped Emergent as a platform attentive to experimentation, collaboration, and the development of alternative models for exhibition-making. For the 29th edition of the fair—taking place from 4 to 6 April 2025 at Allianz MiCo in Milan (VIP preview on 3 April)—Fattori Franchini brings together a group of international galleries engaging with urgent material and conceptual strategies, often operating outside dominant structures of visibility and value. Her work at miart forms part of a wider curatorial and research-based practice investigating technology, post-capitalism, language, femininity, moving image, and the cinematic. As founder of KUNSTVEREIN GARTENHAUS in Vienna and editor of Wild Seeds, she continues to build experimental contexts for artists’ production and writing. In this conversation, she reflects on the shifting conditions for emerging practices and the evolving function of the art fair as a site of both experimentation and support.

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You’ve been shaping miart’s Emergent section since 2017. Could you share the overarching vision for the Emergent section at miart 2025?

Emergent is a section dedicated to galleries whose programming is focused on promoting emerging voices in the contemporary art field. Over the years, I’ve aimed to create a section that surprises and challenges viewers, highlighting galleries operating outside major artistic centres, as well as overlooked positions and practices.

The term “emerging” becomes fluid within the context of an artfair. How do you navigate the tension between introducing new voices and maintaining relationships and support for galleries from previous years?

To support the inclusion of both new and returning voices within the section, for the past four years galleries have had the option to share their presentations. This has encouraged organic peer-to-peer collaboration and fostered new partnerships, positioning the fair—and miart more broadly—as a platform for dialogue and exchange across diverse programmes and geographies. Additionally, galleries may only participate in Emergent for up to three years, which allows me to build lasting relationships while continuously welcoming fresh perspectives into the section.

Have you observed any shifts in the types of practices gaining traction within emerging art since curating the selection at miart? Are there material or methodological affinities that people are gravitating towards—or that you are particularly interested in?

While often reflecting broader market trends, Emergent has each year defined itself through the ambition of its presentations. In recent years, there’s been a growing willingness to experiment with site-specific installations and tightly curated dialogues among artists.This speaks to the trust galleries place in miart and in Emergent as a context where ambitious practices are recognised and understood. This year in particular, I couldn’t be happier to see such a strong presence of site-sensitive presentations and works created especially for the fair.
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The relationship between young galleries and the broader market is always in flux. Are you seeing changes in how these galleries position themselves within a shifting economy?

In my view, established galleries and art fairs have a responsibility to support younger galleries as an essential part of a fragile ecosystem. Placing Emergent at the beginning of the fair demonstrates the importance of this collective support.

For artists at the beginning of their careers, the path to institutional recognition and professional stability is rarely straightforward. What forms of support do you think are most urgent, and what role can platforms like miart play?

I value the role of young galleries, who take risks in presenting their artists internationally through initiatives such as Condo or art fairs like miart. My goal has been to transform the Emergent section into a platform for artistic exchange, where a peer community can gather and present work to international curators and collectors. To extend the support we offer as a fair, each section includes a dedicated prize and a jury of institutional professionals, turning the judging process into an opportunity for artistic discovery. Sometimes a seed is planted, and it’s beautiful to see how artists once featured in Emergent later enter prestigious collections or institutional exhibitions.

Are there recurring thematic concerns or strategies that have surfaced in this year’s selection—whether in relation to media, engagement with history, or political urgency?

I would say all of the above. Many practices are using everyday or found objects as a material vocabulary to establish new relationships with our environment. Themes such as the recording of history, post-urbanism, and the experience of life in multifaceted post-capitalist metropolises are also strongly present. The body in space—digitally mediated, surveilled—emerges as a vulnerable sensory apparatus, subject to tension and fluidity.
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Beyond the immediate discovery of new artists, what kind of discourse do you hope the Emergent section catalyses? Is there a larger critical or structural conversation you hope to initiate?

The Emergent section offers a snapshot of the current discourses in contemporary art and its market. From a critical perspective, Emergent galleries observe and reflect on themes like history, technology, and post-capitalism, which often shape the formal approaches of the artists they represent. By using the section as a platform for the presentation of urgent critical and political issues, I hope to inspire alternative forms of subjectivity and representation.

Looking ahead, are there any long-term goals or initiatives you’d like to introduce to further support emerging artists and galleries at miart in the coming years?

I would love to create further opportunities for long-term exchange between the city of Milan and the Emergent section by collaborating with a local institution to offer a winning artist or gallery an institutional exhibition in Milan. It’s been a long-held dream—let’s see if I can bring it to life.

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miart is the international modern and contemporary art fair organized by Fiera Milano. Its 29th edition will take place from 4 to 6 April 2025 (VIP preview on Thursday 3 April) at Allianz MiCo in Milan.

Attilia Fattori Franchini is an independent curator and writer based in Vienna, AT. Fattori Franchini has conceived and established the commission program BMW Open Work by Frieze (2017−2023) realizing solo presentations by Sara Sadik, Nikita Gale, Madeline Hollander, Camille Blatrix, Sam Lewitt, and Olivia Erlanger; and is the curator of the Emergent section of miart Milan since 2017. She is the curator of the exhibition Rebecca Ackroyd: Mirror Stage, a Collateral Event of the 60^th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, and has worked as a researcher at the Institut für Kunst und Kulturwissenschaften at the Academy for Fine Arts, Vienna.

Her writing has appeared in publications such as Mousse, Artforum, CURA., Flash Art International, Camera Austria, Spike Magazine as well as authoring catalog essays for monographs on the work of Birke Gorm, Jakob Lena Knebl & Ashley Hans Scheirl, Hervé Guibert, Diego Marcon, Tatjana Dannenberg, Rosa Rendl, Andreia Santana, Anaïs Horn, Superflex.

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