Collective Ending are honoured to be invited to partake in the second annual edition of meta_fair, co_atto’s alternative ‘non-fair’. meta_fair # 2, moving with_in the complex: independent curating, aims to offer an overview of the research of independent spaces active in the emerging panorama and is organised with the collaboration of Untitled Association. Opening on the occasion of Milan Art Week 2022, meta_fair aims to give voice to realities similar to co_atto by nature, normally not called upon to participate in institutional events such as MiArt, and takes the form of a showcase festival involving seventeen independent Italian and international exhibition spaces and projects.

For meta_fair # 2, Collective Ending presents CASA, the latest iteration and first international edition of our intermittent exhibition series showcasing new work from studio members of Collective Ending HQ. Founded in 2019, Collective Ending is an artist-led initiative that supports artists by providing them with opportunities to explore and develop their practices in ambitious and experimental settings. In December 2019, Collective Ending HQ, a collectively run studio and gallery complex, opened in Deptford, South East London. Since its inception, Collective Ending has worked with over 150 emerging and early career artists and continues to present a year-round programme of public-facing exhibitions and live events.

moving with_in the complex: independent curating takes its cue from the title of the 26th edition of MiArt, First Movement, to question its aspiration to accelerate the art system. It refers in particular to the essay “Curating the complex & The Open Strike”, by Terry Smith. The curatorial activity, according to his investigation, moves in the complexity of the present, of the contemporary, to convey a shared meaning from the “self” that produces the exhibition to the “us” of the visitor who experiences it. Precisely for this reason, the will of meta_fair # 2 is to offer the public a broad and varied perspective of the curatorial research underway in the independent panorama, to try to understand together what it means to move in and with complexity, conducting a practice of active curatorship. Each project space has been entrusted with a showcase in which, with a free research intervention, they can tell their own identity and reflect on the exhibition concept. The exhibition aims, in fact, at the enhancement of diversity, trying to develop a panorama of different players and stimulating the possibility of dialogue and comparison.