Contemporary art: exhibitions not to be missed in DECEMBER 2025

Here we are: December has arrived with its somewhat timid light and endless to-do list, but I’m here to share the contemporary art exhibitions selected, as every month, by Alice Traforti.

In this post, you’ll find only exhibitions that will make you want to linger a few minutes longer in front of a work, perhaps in silence, perhaps thinking, ‘OK, I’ve found a different perspective on this issue! ‘.

In this post, Alice takes us to Milan, Naples and Verona to discover five exhibitions in December 2025 that don’t want to convince you that they are the best, but that tell us something about our times: colour that becomes music, emptiness that keeps us company, work that changes shape (and perhaps us too), light that redesigns space, and two artists who have used the body to rewrite the rules of language.

Fasten your seatbelts, or rather, since it’s cold, wrap up your scarf, open your mind and come and discover what’s happening in Italian contemporary art today.

Contemporary art: exhibitions to see in DECEMBER 2025

#5mostrealmese
#DICEMBRE2025

Ecco 5 mostre che inaugurano in ottobre in 5 gallerie d’arte contemporanea d’Italia.
Non è una classifica delle mostre migliori!

Si tratta di 5 proposte attuali che offrono diversi spunti di riflessione, insieme a una panoramica della ricerca contemporanea.

– pittura come ricerca sulla composizione cromatica

– il vuoto come paesaggio interiore

– un’indagine sull’intelligenza collettiva e sul futuro del lavoro e della creatività

– una personale riflessione sul rapporto fra segno, luce e spazio pittorico

– due grandi artiste femministe dell’Arte Concettuale nell’Europa degli anni ‘60

Keep in art,
Alice

5 EXHIBITIONS IN DECEMBER 2025: CONTEMPORARY ART IN MILAN, NAPLES AND VERONA

Gabriele Cappelli: Composition 515, 2025, 120cmx110cm
Photo credit Andy Keate courtesy of Cadogan Gallery and the artist

Gabriele Cappelli
Venticinque

The first exhibition in Italy by Gabriele Cappelli (Forlì, 1972; lives and works in London since 1997) presents a series of new paintings inspired by some of his emblematic creations and significant themes explored throughout his career.

For Cappelli, colour is the cornerstone of his research, which does not serve to describe but “speaks for itself”; form regulates balance and proportions, thus creating visual harmony or tension. With waxes and powders that evoke the lustre of gold, mixed with oil colours, Cappelli’s works convey a sense of profound harmony and serenity. (from the press release).

opening Wednesday 3 December 2025, 6-8 p.m.

until 31 January 2026

Cadogan Gallery, Milan

Link: https://cadogangallery.com/exhibitions/128-gabriele-cappelli-venticinque/

Vuoti abitati
Giacomo Balla, Alexandra Barth, Susanne Kutter, Yerbossyn Meldibekov, Alain Urrutia, Luca Vitone

In Vuoti abitati (Inhabited Voids), six artists use different languages to address emptiness not as a lack, but as a condition of relationship. Objects, natural landscapes, night skies and apartment interiors appear as if waiting for a presence to complete them, and their intensity is manifested in the openness they offer to the observer’s gaze. Absence becomes an opportunity for dialogue. The artist arranges the space and retains its sounds, while the observer projects their own questions onto it. (from the press release)

opening Thursday 4 December, 6pm

until 13 February 2026

MAAB Gallery, Milan

Link: https://www.maabgallery.com/vuoti-abitati/

Agnieszka Kurant, Semiotic Life 2, 2025. photo credit: Harris Rosenblum, photo courtesy of the artist

Agnieszka Kurant
Variantology

Agnieszka Kurant (born in Łódź, Poland) draws on philosophy, technology, science and digital capitalism to create unstable and constantly evolving works focused on collective intelligence and the future of work and creativity. The artist constructs complex systems, networks and environments composed of multiple agents (molecules, animals, bacteria, artificial intelligence algorithms or crowds of people) that interact to produce hybrid forms in constant metamorphosis. Oscillating between the biological, digital and geological, natural and artificial, life and non-life, the deep past and the distant future, his works explore plural subjectivity, the evolution of living systems, culture and technology, the transformations of the human, automation and cybernetics. (from the press release).

opening Thursday 4 December, 6-8 p.m.

until 31 January 2026

Lia Rumma, Naples

Link: https://www.liarumma.it/mostre

Carla Accardi: Ororosso (Oriente n. 1), 1965, tempera alla caseina su tela. 190 x 219,5 cm

Accardi, oroargento
opere 1964-1965

in collaboration with Archivio Accardi Sanfilippo

With gold and silver, Carla Accardi not only exploits the optical effects of the two-colour schemes already used in many of her works at the beginning of the decade, but also manages to capture the reflections of light from the outside environment through the reflective properties of the colours of the metals. The surfaces of the canvases collected here take the form of constantly changing visual fields: depending on the point of observation and the angle of incidence of the light rays, they come alive, vibrate, and become charged with reflections and shadows. (from the press release)

opening Saturday 13 December 2025, 7 p.m.

until 28 March 2026

Galleria dello Scudo, Verona

Link: https://galleriadelloscudo.com/esposizione/accardi-oroargento/

VALIE EXPORT & KETTY LA ROCCA

VALIE EXPORT & KETTY LA ROCCA
BODY SIGN

curated by Andrea Maurer and Alberto Salvadori

in collaboration with Studio VALIE EXPORT and Archivio KETTY LA ROCCA

VALIE EXPORT and KETTY LA ROCCA used the body as a tool to challenge patriarchal society, highlighting the dichotomy between the use of language in public and private spaces to recognise and convey their ideas, demonstrating the need for a broader field of action. Both artists transcended the limitations imposed by a single medium, experimenting with photography, video, sculpture and performance as fluid and permeable tools. (from the press release)

opening Tuesday 16 December, 6.30-8.30 p.m.

until 28 February 2026

Thaddaeus Ropac, Milan

Link: https://ropac.net/exhibitions/767-valie-export-ketty-la-rocca-body-sign/

CONTEMPORARY ART DECEMBER 2025: SOME EXHIBITIONS ARE COMING TO A CLOSE!

Ivana Bašić – Fantasy vanishes in flesh
until 6 December 2025, at FRANCESCA MININI, Milan

Bai Yiyi – Healing
until 13 December 2025, at Galleria Poggiali, Milan

Attraverso le stanze
until 13 December 2025, at Tommaso Calabro, Milan

Préludes o della forma in-attesa – Greta Ferretti, Olga Lepri, Sara Pacucci
until 20 December 2025, at Marignana Arte, Venice

Massimo Scolari – Solca Mari Mossi
until 24 December 2025, at Antonia Jannone Disegni di Architettura, Milan

To discover all the unmissable exhibitions taking place in museums and exhibition halls throughout Italy, read the page dedicated to Exhibitions and Events, with a map to search for the event you want to see in your city.

CONTEMPORARY ART DECEMBER 2025: SOME EXHIBITIONS CURRENTLY ON!

Omar Galliani. Nuovi Angeli – Nuove Carte
until 10 January 2026, at Mangano Art Gallery, Cremona

Ahmet Öğüt – neither artificial nor intelligent
until 8 February 2026, at A plus A Gallery, Venice

Emilio Isgrò – Rosso Shakespeare
until 14 February 2026, at Tornabuoni Art, Rome

Umberto Manzo – Invisibili Trame
until 14 February 2026, at E3 Arte Contemporanea, Brescia

RERUM NOVARUM – Matteo Basilé
until 7 March 2026, at Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio, Todi

Kounellis | Warhol. La messa in scena della tragedia umana: la classicità di Jannis Kounellis e il pop di Andy Warhol.
until 29 May 2026, at Galleria Fumagalli, Milan

All the exhibitions that opened last month and are still running can be found in the post Contemporary art: exhibitions not to be missed in NOVEMBER 2025.

As always, enjoy the art, everyone!

Alice

Post edited by: Alice Traforti