I Volti dell’Arte Contemporanea
People, stories and journeys beyond the artworks
There are artworks we know, images we recognize, names we have learned to associate with a particular way of making art. And yet, behind those works, the face of the person often remains in the background.
This simple thought is at the heart of I Volti dell’Arte Contemporanea, the new publishing series conceived and edited by Doriana Vriale and Maurizio Vitiello, which will be presented Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 6:00 pm, at Bar Il Marciapiede, Via S. Teresa a Chiaia 41, Naples.
The first volume grew out of the experience of the 1st International Biennale of Contemporary Art Dentro il Blu, held in Naples from July 1 to 5, but chooses not to stop at the story of the exhibition. It starts with the artworks and looks for what lies before and around them: the people, journeys, experiences and ideas that have contributed to shaping an artistic practice over time.
Because an artwork never begins only at the moment it is made. Before it come encounters, studies, experiences, attempts, intuitions. There are also doubts, difficulties, opportunities and choices that rarely find their way into exhibition catalogues. To know something more about those who create, study, curate or write about art means adding another layer to the way we read artworks.
I Volti dell’Arte Contemporanea therefore brings together the voices and experiences of artists, critics, curators, art historians, photographers and cultural practitioners. Different figures, with different stories and paths, connected by their involvement in a world made not only of exhibited works, but also of relationships, research and everyday work.
The face, in this sense, becomes more than a photograph. It is a presence, an identity, a story waiting to be known. It reminds us that behind every artistic practice there is a person, with their own way of looking at the world and engaging with their time.
The presentation of the volume will also be an opportunity to discuss what art publishing can mean today: not simply a tool for documenting exhibitions and events, but a space capable of gathering testimonies and building a memory of the protagonists of contemporary culture.
The discussion will feature Maurizio Vitiello, moderator, Mino Iorio, guest critic, and Doriana Vriale, editor-in-chief of the publication.
With I Volti dell’Arte Contemporanea, Vriale and Vitiello launch a series that, for a moment, shifts the gaze from the artwork to the person. Not to replace one with the other, but to remember that every artwork carries a story and that, often, to understand it better, it is enough to begin with a face.