New face for ViennaNacontemporary: Mirvali takes over management!

New face for ViennaNacontemporary: Mirvali takes over management!

Messe Wien, Österreich - The ViennaNacontemporary, one of the most important art fairs in East and Central Europe, is about to change in the artistic direction. Ableeh Mirvali was introduced as the new artistic director, while Francesca Gavin, who left the trade fair in 2024 after just one year, was replaced by mutual consent by Managing Director Markus Huber. The aim is to gain a personality with Mirvali who interacts at eye level with galleries, institutions and collectors and sets new impulses. Mirvali brings over 20 years of experience in international institutional and curatorial contexts.

The stations of her career include valuable positions such as the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara and the management of the Biennial of the Americas and the Jumex Arte private museum in Mexico City. At the Viennacontemporary, she curated the Solo Expanded section in 2016 and was a guest curator for the "Curated by" campaign in Viennese galleries in 2017. For the upcoming trade fair, she will first act as an artistic consultant and take over the full management from 2026, a step that Huber emphasized as significant.

Details on the upcoming trade fair

The next edition of the ViennaNacontemporary will take place from September 11th to 14th, 2025 in Hall D of the Vienna trade fair. The event is expected to include around 100 galleries, which underlines the importance of this event in the international art scene. Christina Wagner will take over the organizational management as Chief Operating Officer, while Aliaksei Barysionak acts as curator of "Zone1". In addition, the application deadline for galleries runs by the end of April, which significantly influences preparations for the fair for many art bribe.

The ViennaNacontemporary was founded for the first time in 2015 and has since conquered a place in the international art market. Together with other important trade fairs, such as Art Basel or Frieze, it shows how art practices are globally connected. Art fairs such as the Viennacontemporary are central contact points for art lovers and collectors to discover contemporary art and to find out more about current trends. According to the analysis of Composition Gallery, such events are not only platforms for the purchase and sale of art, but also essential network clinies within the art scene worldwide.

With the change in the artistic direction, the ViennaNacontemporary would be well positioned in order to consolidate its influences and further expand the importance of the art scene in the region. It remains to be seen which impulses Mirvali will bring into her future role and how this will affect the upcoming trade fair.

summarized Kleine Zeitung On the new developments, The press illuminates the background of the personnel changes, and Composition Gallery provides valuable insights into the global context of the art fairs.