ART CITY Bologna 2026

From Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 February 2026 ART CITY Bologna returns, now in its fourteenth edition.

The rich programme of exhibitions and events is promoted by the Municipality of Bologna, with the support of BolognaFiere, on the occasion of Arte Fiera, and with the artistic direction of Lorenzo Balbi, director of the MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art of Bologna of the Civic Museums Sector of the Municipality of Bologna.

A key feature of the event is the Special Program which, curated by Caterina Molteni, continues along the path of experimentation by inviting Italian and international artists to intervene in spaces usually not accessible for exhibitions—forgotten or lesser-known places for the wider public.
In this perspective, the 2026 edition presents a special collaboration with the city institution devoted par excellence to knowledge, dialogue and transformation: the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna.

The itinerary of the Special Program pays tribute to this cultural heritage by crossing the spaces of this prestigious institution, some of which will be open to the public for the occasion:

• the Alessandro Ghigi Hall of the former Institute of Zoology
• the Atrium of the former Faculty of Engineering
• the Boschereccia Room of Palazzo Hercolani
• the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio Municipal Library
• the Federico Zeri Foundation
• the Educational Laboratory of the Navile District
• the Great Hall of the University Library of Bologna.

The venues of the Special Program are not simple containers but narrative devices that give shape to the theme of the edition: The Body of Language, inspired by the text of the same name by Giorgio Agamben, in which the philosopher outlines a true anatomy of language: not a static concept, but a living body, “fleeing who knows where, yet certainly outside every grammatical identity and any definitive lexicon”.
For Agamben, language—like knowledge—takes shape in the voice, in gestures, in the relationship with the other. Rethinking the body therefore also means rethinking knowledge and its modes of transmission.

giulia deval, Mike Kelley, Ana Mendieta, Alexandra Pirici, Augustas Serapinas, Jenna Sutela and Nora Turato are the artists of the 2026 edition of ART CITY Bologna, and through their work they explore knowledge starting from the physicality of knowing, capable of revealing the power structures in educational processes and, at the same time, opening spaces of resistance and new expressive horizons. From this perspective, the works on display propose alternative models of production and transmission of knowledge, questioning the authority and linearity typical of academic and artistic knowledge. The exhibition projects interrogate the nature of educational spaces, the implicit rules that govern them and the symbolic, social and political transformations that have shaped their evolution, dedicating particular attention to new forms of intelligence.