During the last years the best art fairs have been working like Swiss watches and creating a long series of minor market-exhibitions, much smaller but often with very attractive proposals.  Many art lovers, even very wealthy ones, visit them all, in search of new Damien Hirsts to invest on.  It may be for this reason that the big market-exhibitions of contemporary art have become inaccessible places where the richest men of the planet arrive with their private jets, ready to sign six-zero cheques to take home masterpieces by great masters and works by the trendiest contemporary artists.
But in a period like the one we are living in, where the media, newspapers, TV and internet keep on talking about the huge financial crisis comparing it to the one that happened in 1929, what should art fairs be expecting? The situation is delicate and there is already who is predicting the disastrous crash of the economy of art, although for the time being this sector has not suffered consequences.  Actually, we could dare say that the art market, in this chaotic situation, could even gain some benefits, as the purchase of works has always proven to be the best investment and an excellent bailout good. 
Beyond the situation that we are facing and that could continue towards the systematic slump of art sales, we should not panic, but think that the season that has just begun is offering collectors lots of possibilities.
The ball will be opened in London.  Frieze Art Fair will be held from 16th to 19th October, and the trendiest art display will become the most glamorous meeting place  in the world for artists and art dealers. Curated by Neville Wakefield, Frieze wants to prove at international level how art can change our way of being, of perceiving the universe that surrounds us.  Well, five years after its first edition, Frieze is proving to be still the real festival of contemporary art.  For the year 2008 it will propose 150 galleries from all over the world, 1000 works of art, a special section with site-specific works, a sculpture park and a very full calendar of projections, debates, but even special events, parties, social DJ sets.
It is too early to hazard a prediction, but during this weekend of autumn, London is very likely to  surprise us.  There are all the prerequisites and the past editions also say a lot about this event: the one held in 2007 attracted 69 thousand spectators, a number that forced the organizers to limit the number of entrances in 2008.  Furthermore, the Deutsche Bank, main sponsor of the exhibition, has renewed its sponsorship until 2011, a sign that it is well-spent money.
Among the 150 galleries that will display the best of contemporary artistic productions, there are names like White Cube, Gagosian, Gladstone and Goodman. There will be nine galleries taking part in it for the first time and ten Italian galleries: Massimo De Carlo, Studio Guenzani, Francesca Kaufmann, Giò Marconi, Massimo Minini, Franco Noero, Sonia Rosso, Raucci/Santamaria, Zero and the Studio of Giovanna Simonetta. The latter was lucky to find the golden token that artist Cory Arcangel, one of the eleven participants of the Frieze Project, hid in the boxes of chocolate handed to the gallery owners who had been excluded and that grants participation to the fair.
The next appointment is in Paris. FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) has already been for many years a well-established fair within the art system. It has existed since the times of performance art, when Warhol used to autograph his posters and Orlan roamed around dressed as Saint Theresa and sold her kisses for five francs.  It will be held from 23rd to 26th October at the Grand Palais and Cour Carrée de Louvre.  As always, the fair will deal in contemporary art, mainly focusing on the most innovative works offered by the artistic panorama.  For the 2008 edition the fair will host 191 galleries, among which the Italian: Francesca Minini, Lia Rumma, Massimo De Carlo and Christian Stein.
The “autumn fair fever” will continue in Berlin with Art Forum Berlin, the international fair of contemporary art that this year celebrates its thirteenth anniversary; it will be held at the exhibition pavilion of Berlin from 31st October to 3rd November.  Born from the collaboration between Messe Berlin GmbH (the society that manages the fair sector in Berlin) and the consultative committee for art galleries, Art Forum aims once again at standing out for its innovative and experimental spirit.  Definitely one of the most courageous and specialized fairs to write down in our diary, which for 2008 will host 120 galleries from 25 countries.
The last stop of this fair season is Artissima.  Once again it is an international fair; it will take place in Turin from 7th to 9th November, at the Lingotto Fiere, a space created at the beginning of the century and revived by Renzo Piano.  The market-exhibition in Turin intends to display contemporary art and emerging tendencies with particular attention to artistic experiments.
At its fifteenth edition, Artissima is proposing 128 galleries from 19 different countries, divided in three sections: Main Section, Present Future and New Entry. Some of the most important galleries that will be on view in Turin are: Continua of San Gimignano, the Milanese Emi Fontana and Francesca Kaufmann, Massimo Minini from Brescia, Lia Rumma and many other Italian as well as foreign galleries.
In conclusion, four International art fairs in less than two months, from October to November.  Without doubt it will be the fair season in Europe, especially in the cities that have always dealt in contemporary art: Berlin, London, Paris and Turin. Therefore, all at one sitting for gallery owners, artists, collectors, art lovers, editors, critics and whoever is involved in the world of art. (Translated by Giorgina Arcuri)