The ripple effect of Basel Social Club (BSC)—the convivial commercial exhibition, events programme and hospitality pop-up that takes place during Art Basel—has hit Milan. The new art fair-cum-hangout space Mega (which stands for Milano Emergent Gallery Assembly) runs from today until Sunday (10-14 April), alongside the longstanding Miart. It hopes to capitalise on the footfall and open wallets generated by the bigger event, and in turn offer Italy's financial capital something cooler and sexier than a harshly lit convention centre.
Mega’s inaugural edition is held in a disused railway yard warehouse next to the Porta Genova station, in the trendy Navigli area. Its co-organiser, the Italian curator and art adviser Marta Orsola Sironi, says she was inspired by BSC, which held its second edition last year in a vast factory. Operating RSVP only, Mega will consist of a selling exhibition, with prices ranging from €2,000 to €25,000, a packed programme of talks and events, food stands, a cocktail bar, and DJ performances each night. “There is an event happening every two hours we are open,” Sironi says.
For the exhibition, 15 galleries were invited to bring works for the large, derelict space (there are strictly no booths, so as to emphasise the industrial chic of the surroundings). Participants range from emerging spaces like Monti 8 from Latina, a city south of Rome, to bigger names such as König (which has not participated in a major art fair since multiple allegations of sexual misconduct harassment made against its founder, Johann König, were published in September 2022 by Die Zeit. König denies all allegations made against him; many of these were redacted under a court order).
Two London galleries, Harlesden High Street and Nicoletti, will jointly stage a show of Ruby Dickson's paintings of the celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian, which will be placed on specially designed walls, as though they are “going for a walk around the space”, Dickson says.
Much like BSC, whose mayonnaise factory venue will eventually be turned into a cultural centre, Mega will provide its derelict location with some cache and buzz before it is developed: the railway yard will eventually be transformed into a social venue, including a nightclub and restaurant, Sironi says.
Those who might flock to that future nightclub, or any of the dozens of hip spots in Navigli, could become potential collectors if better integrated and welcomed into the art world, says another of Mega's co-organisers, Mattia Pozzoni. "Milan has grown enough as a city to have lots of young professionals with disposable income," he says. "But art fairs continue to be incredibly self-referential, speaking to an established collector base and to those who travel around the world for art. Those buyers are, of course, vital for our business, but we want to also cater to a different demographic—one that has touched the art world but hasn’t properly engaged with it."
The right introduction requires the right ambience. In Italy, that means good food, good wine and good times. And what a better way to entice party loving future patrons than to get a participating gallerist on the decks? Franceso Pistoi, the founder of Lunetta 11 in Mombarcaro, Piedmont, has been performing for decades as DJ Pisti, delivering thumping techno to crowds from Miami to Milan. Tonight he will treat the crowd at Mega to a three-hour set. Sironi says Pistoi's music is legendary in Italy, and that she has been listening to his tracks this week in preparation.