Mercanteinfiera gets underway on Saturday 30 September at Fiere di Parma. Antiques, art, historical design, vintage collectibles and for the first time also video art with the presentation on Saturday, October 7th of the latest work by visual artist Monica Manganelli. Ilaria Dazzi: “Objects that tell their stories – stories of great passions. This is the essence of Mercanteinfiera”

(Parma, September 28) – The global success of Måneskin and the English singer Harry Styles, music and style icons, in the spirit of transgression. Looks that spark debate, with outfits full of tulle and fringed tops (challenging, among other things, a whole series of stereotypes) and which take us back to that rebellious, wild, and revolutionary period: the thirty years – which seemed to last a century – from the ’60s to the ’80s, an era of other icons such as David Bowie, ABBA, and Freddie Mercury. A mood that will be immortalized during Mercanteinfiera (30 September 30 – 8 October) at Fiere di Parma in the collateral photo exhibition “Communicating Fashion: Identity, transformations and gender imaginaries (1960-1980). A journey through the CSAC Archives” curated by Lucia Miodini.

An era of experimentation, avant-garde movements and video art that comes back to life through the work of director and visual artist Monica Manganelli, who on October 7th (in the Agorà room at 3 pm) will present the animated feature film “Turandot, Princess of China”. A young and emerging artist, her resume includes collaborations with the likes of the Wachowskis, the directors of The Matrix, for whom she created a series of concepts and sketches for the different scenes of the worlds of the film Cloud Atlas. Visual art aims to bring a young audience even closer to the world of Mercanteinfiera, which through the use of digital techniques for video scenographies, virtual reality and motion graphics seeks to stimulate our capacity for wonder and amazement.  Forms of art that accelerate awareness and thought, making the best use of new technologies as a tool for creativity, equality, and human expression.

A journey into creativity is also the focus of the collateral exhibition “Communicating fashion:  Identity, transformations and gender imaginaries (1960-1980). A journey through the CSAC Archives“, which will address the issue of male and female imaginaries over time. Through the selection of forty drawings and photographs from the Fashion Archives of the Visual Communication Research Centre and Archive in Parma, the exhibition, curated by Lucia Miodini, offers an interpretation of the fashion imaginary that fuels the social construction of masculinity and femininity. The exhibition investigates the transformation of standards and trends from the 1960s to the early 1980s in the visual production of high fashion female designers, from Clara Centinaro to atelier Albertina; followed by the prêt-à-porter pioneer Walter Albini, and finally, the great designers of  Made in Italy fashion: Giorgio Armani, Krizia, and Versace.

“Objects that tell their stories – stories of great passions. This is how we could summarize the essence of Mercanteinfiera,-  says Ilaria Dazzi, Exhibition Director of Mercanteinfiera, –  an exhibition that allows you to explore and discover art, antiques, vintage, and modern antiques. At the same time, it reveals the obsession of collecting through stories, curious cases, and truly unique characters like photographer Paolo Brillo, whose obsession with Bob Dylan is on display in our collateral exhibition.”

Thirty years in 250 shots, this is the monumental work of Paolo Brillo, who, with the obsession of an entomologist, followed the “minstrel of Duluth” in 1000 concerts: the exhibition “Paolo Brillo.  Stolen Moments. Bob Dylan and Other Music Icons”, organized in collaboration with the Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea gallery in Milan, will be hosted by Mercanteinfiera.

Some people collect Bob Dylan while others collect corkscrews, an everyday object first designed by Leonardo Da Vinci in the Codex Atlanticus (1482-1499) and which later became an exercise in creativity by great designers like Gio Ponti or iconic stylists like Ralph Lauren or Dior. The corkscrew will take centre stage in the third collateral show scheduled at Mercanteinfiera, entitled “In vino veritas: the infinite shapes of the corkscrew“, organized by Giancarlo Gonizzi, Director of the Food Museums of Parma.

As always, antiques, historical design, modern antiques and vintage collectibles (from fashion to fine watches) remain the true soul of Mercanteinfiera, a destination for the eclectic and daring kind of collecting (over 100,000 visitors a year) that can put a vintage Mickey Mouse-shaped phone next to an eighteenth-century trumeau or an elegant chaise longue next to a Betty Boop coffee table.

Buyers are expected from the USA, France, the UK and the East.