Torino Art Week 2020: NESXT Festival Cancelled Due to COVID-19

NESXT, the contemporary art festival directed by Olga Gambari and held annually during Torino's art week centered around Artissima, has been cancelled for 2020 due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was announced shortly after Italy's new anti-Covid decree (Dpcm) and amid rapidly rising infection rates. The festival's statement cited responsibility, impossibility to proceed, and a complete loss of meaning for events under current conditions. This cancellation follows Artissima's earlier decision to cancel its 27th edition (scheduled for November 5–8) and replace it with a physical program in collaboration with Fondazione Torino Musei and digital projects. Other art week fairs—Flashback, The Others, Paratissima, Dama, and NESXT—initially indicated they would proceed, but Flashback later announced it would not hold its canonical format at Pala Alpitour Isozaki, instead adopting a diffused fair format with Turin galleries hosting colleagues from other Italian regions from November 5 to 8. The cancellation of NESXT raises questions about the fate of remaining fairs as a new Dpcm with further restrictions (including possible closure of cinemas and theaters) is expected. The art week is organized by Contemporary Art Torino Piemonte.