Milano Art Week 2026 starts today The widespread programme crossing all of Milan
Milano Art Week 2026 returns, from 13 to 19 April, marking a clear turning point: in its tenth edition, the event consolidates itself as a widespread cultural platform, capable of connecting over 260 entities among institutions, museums, foundations, universities, independent spaces and galleries, with more than 490 events distributed across the entire urban fabric. The event, promoted by the City of Milan and coordinated by Arte Totale ETS, strengthens the idea of a city traversed by contemporary art as a continuous infrastructure, where the exhibition dimension expands beyond canonical venues.
The institutional programme develops through a system of major hubs that define the spirit of the week, including Palazzo Reale, Museo del Novecento, Pirelli HangarBicocca and Fondazione Prada, along with MUDEC and other Milanese museums and foundations. Within these spaces, a dialogue unfolds between practices and generations that crosses recent art history and contemporary research, consolidating the role of Milan as a European centre for cultural production and exchange.
The programme of the Milano Art Week 2026 brings together a wide and curated constellation of artists, connecting historicised figures with leading voices of contemporary research. Among the main names are Maurizio Cattelan, Anselm Kiefer, Mona Hatoum, Cao Fei and Hito Steyerl, alongside figures such as Chiharu Shiota, Otobong Nkanga and Jeremy Deller. These are accompanied by historicised artists such as Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe and Bruno Munari, together with a strong Italian presence including Ugo La Pietra, Diego Marcon, Benni Bosetto, Paola Pivi, Francesco Simeti, Ambra Castagnetti, Vincenzo Agnetti and Nanda Vigo. The panorama is completed by international figures such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Gabrielle Goliath, Kim Bohie, Walter Pfeiffer and Romane de Watteville.
A significant part of the programme develops through interventi diffus i and site specific projects such as Ghost Track, which activates a dialogue between heritage and contemporary practice with artists including Thomas Jeppe, Markus Schinwald, Latifa Echakhch, Matteo Nasini and Virginia Russolo, together with interventions by Vasilis Papageorgiou, Natalia Trejbalova and Alessandro Carano. At this level, it is accompanied by practices that cross art, architecture and design with Andrea Branzi, Toyo Ito and Ettore Sottsass, alongside figures such as Gianni Pettena and Mohammed El Hajoui, extending to the performative and sonic dimensions activated by Marco Fusinato and Aronne Pleuteri.
Within this context, Milano Art Week 2026 takes shape as an integrated system in which public and private dimensions, research and market, local and international coexist. More than an event, it is an urban device that reflects Milan’s positioning as one of the main European centres for contemporary art, capable of activating connections and producing new forms of cultural fruition.
