We are in a historical period where society pays great attention to rankings of all kinds. From the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world, to the 100 greatest films of all time, to the top 30 dishes Europeans prefer to cook, and so on.
The art world also has its rankings, but the one that every year all the “power players” eagerly await is the Power 100 by Art Review, a specialized American magazine. Now in its eighteenth edition, the list presents the 100 most influential figures in the international contemporary art world over the past 12 months, according to the judgment of 30 artists, curators, and critics worldwide.
For 2019, the top spot goes to Glenn D. Lowry, director of the MoMA in New York, for revolutionizing the traditional museum model. Very few Italians made the list, among them the three founding partners of Galleria Continua: Mario Cristiani, Maurizio Rigillo, and Lorenzo Fiaschi.
It is an important recognition for a project born with the aim of bringing contemporary art outside the usual circuits, first as an association and later becoming a gallery of international significance.
This gallery will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2020.
The uniqueness and strength of the “gallery” lie in its identity rooted in the territory, being culturally and socially committed on one hand, while at the same time able to hold a strong and international position in the market.
The choices regarding exhibition venues are also very distinctive, often marked by the restoration of historic buildings located outside central areas.
The San Gimignano location is iconic, housed in a restored former 1950s cinema. A similar space and situation has existed in Havana, Cuba, since 2015. For Paris, the strategy led to the rediscovery of the countryside at Les Moulins de Sainte Marie, a large space in a former paper mill.
A sensitivity to the landscape leads to the selection of unusual venues, along with a focus on urban regeneration.
With this approach came the gallery’s expansion into China in 2004: their Beijing venue, offering 1,000 square meters of exhibition space with a 13-meter-high ceiling, is strategically located within Factory 798, part of a complex of industrial plants built in the Bauhaus style by East German architects in the 1950s. The so-called ‘Dashanzi Art District’ (another name for the former Factory 798) has for years been an emblematic example of industrial reuse for artistic purposes, housing artist studios, galleries, publishers, bookstores, graphic design studios, bars, and restaurants.
And now, at the beginning of 2020, to celebrate 30 years of activity, Galleria Continua has chosen to open another space in Italy, and once again it is an unconventional choice, in a wing of The St. Regis hotel in Rome, a very unique area, unknown to most guests: the Sala Diocleziano. At the same time, they announced the upcoming opening in São Paulo, Brazil, inside a stadium…
A distinctive feature of Galleria Continua is its ability to operate within a globalized system while maintaining direct contact with the local context, along with a strong reputation it has built over the years by working with top-quality contemporary artists, including Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley, Daniel Buren, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Loris Cecchini, and Arcangelo Sassolino.
But how are the choices made?
Lorenzo Fiaschi recently stated: “Our strings resonate thanks to the people, the situations, the places we ‘come across.’ Our projects are not born based on the market or collecting trends. When we find a situation we feel in harmony with, we embrace it, we throw ourselves into it, heart and soul. We let ourselves be carried away by passion, and fortunately, the results follow.”
Happy birthday, Galleria Continua!