If 2025 revealed a structural breakdown in the way the traditional art world—especially the gallery business—has worked, this year has offered an impressive glimpse of possible solutions, from acquisitions to international partnerships and local collaborative infrastructure. Embracing scalable and flexible structures, dealers and art professionals are rewriting the playbook of a highly competitive system, which may be in danger of deviating too far from its original purpose: to support and disseminate art in all areas and communities.
Consonni Radziszewski presented a new space in Milan in time for the city’s art week and the upcoming Venice Biennale, the result of a collaboration between Lisbon-based Mandragoa, founded by Matteo Consonni, and Warsaw-based Galeria Dawid Radziszewski. The pairing was a natural outcome of the collaboration that began in 2021 with shared art booths and joint projects, including a joint representation of Polish photographer Joanna Piotrowska. “In the beginning, it was about sharing visibility with different people, but also sharing ideas: how to install the booth, how to communicate with the project. Then it evolved into sharing all the costs and all the profits. That was the best test to understand that we can really work together,” Consonni told the Observer. “Through this experience over the years, we realized that we can cooperate more, do things together and actually benefit from each other.
Consonni Radziszewski will maintain spaces in Lisbon and Warsaw while opening a third gallery in Milan. Housed in a historic Milanese building from the early 20th century, this new space represents both opportunity and necessity. With the growing demand for real estate in the city and the new tax regime facilitating the influx of capital and wealthy international citizens, the choice was partly strategic and in line with the sellers’ shared desire to establish a strong position in the central European market. For Consonni, the choice to open in Milan was personal—returning home after a 10-year absence. “Returning to Italy now represents the foundation of this project,” he said. “It’s my place to meet Dawid’s vision in a city that always rewards those with a sense of innovation.”
However the two sellers couldn’t be more different, which is probably why it works. Consonni came through the goldsmiths, Jan Mot in Brussels and Franco Noero in Turin—he knows the art world, as Radziszewski puts it, “right at its heart.” Radziszewski opened his first gallery in Poznań at the age of 20, from what he calls “the borders of the global art world.” He says: “It is interesting that despite these different histories, we have the same goals and the same goals.”
But they have a lot in common. Operating on the fringes of the major international art spaces, both of these galleries have grown themselves over time, establishing name recognition and reaching beyond their regional locations by presenting in international exhibitions and championing early artists who now participate in biennales and appear in international museums. Both were ambitious and determined. “I no longer want to be called a ‘Central European’ gallery. I want to be a real partner in the international art world,” said Radziszewski. “Milan is a strong place that can connect these markets, but there is another reason we opened it now: we didn’t want to wait. We want to grow now-to be a medium-sized international gallery, not defined by geography,” Consonni adds.
Both insist that this is not a story about art market consolidation under pressure—their model is not an answer to the crisis but a bid for growth. Asked for one word to describe the builders, Consonni offers three, one for the city: “The progress of Warsaw, the lifestyle of Lisbon and the elegance of Milan.” Radziszewski, on the other hand, simply says, “Ciao.”
Operating in Portugal, Italy, and Poland will allow the new gallery to connect three different but dynamic markets. Italy has a long-established collecting tradition, while Poland has seen rapid growth, with collectors working more globally and acquiring high-value works. “Not many people realize how fast our market is growing,” said Radziszewski. In recent years, most of the gallery’s income comes from Poland, and collectors no longer only buy for a few thousand euros—buying in the six-figure range is now common. “There are important collectors who travel, who visit exhibitions and buy in major galleries around the world. Poland is now the 20th largest economy in the world. This creates real opportunities.” Polish collectors, who once focused mainly on Polish artists, are also starting to buy internationally, according to Radziszewski, who sees this as a key factor in repositioning the international gallery. “We want to be among the first international galleries with Polish roots.”
Portugal, on the other hand, has changed since the opening of Mandragoa in Lisbon in 2023 from an affordable place to a globally connected network, driven by territorial expansion and internationalization. “When I started in Portugal 10 years ago, it was not because the market was strong but because it was a big base-cheap and unpredictable. That created opportunities. Today, the situation has changed,” explained Consonni, noting how two similar markets have emerged: the Portuguese collecting base focused on the area and the growing country driven by the influx of people from abroad. The Portuguese gallery has expanded internationally, and foreign exhibitions have opened in Portugal, putting the country firmly on the contemporary art map.
Located in a villa located behind the entrance of a residential palazzo and not visible from the street, the new two-storey Milanese space has its own strong character, creating new opportunities for artists to engage with a place that is very different from Lisbon or Warsaw.
A quick plan is to host one exhibition on the ground floor, while using the upper floors as exhibition space to provide an overview of the variety of practices and narratives in their program. But that may change in the near future, as Consonni and Radziszewski are resisting strict exhibition structures. The gallery will remain flexible, adapting its rooms to a variety of formats as the program evolves and as the needs of artists change. “No artist will ever have the same experience in each city—the spaces, the architecture and the context are completely different,” Consonni points out, explaining how the exhibitions will be adapted to suit the structure of each location. “If we have a very intimate exhibition with small works, Lisbon might be the right place. Big exhibitions might be better suited to Milan or Warsaw. Each place offers a different atmosphere.”
Beyond that flexibility, the program will be decidedly international. “We both bring international programs, and by combining them, they become even more international. We no longer have to think about being local,” said Radziszewski, adding that even with the presence of three specific situations, the gallery connects three points on the European map rather than representing local scenes. “This is about getting rid of that mythic feeling attached to non-central places. No one is asking a New York gallery to justify its ‘local’ identity. We want the same freedom,” echoed Consonni.
The Milan location opened late last month with a program by South African artist Buhlebezwe Siwani, one of the fastest growing artists in the Mandragoa program, who has received significant attention from international institutions in recent years and will have work at the 2026 Venice Biennale. “Being in Milan – just a few hours from Venice – allows us to maximize that time and present the results of his research carried out over the years,” said Consonni.
At the same time, the Warsaw venue will host a joint exhibition featuring Annette Barcelo and Jason Dodge, presented in collaboration with Galleria Franco Noero as part of the Constellations invitational program. Also in Lisbon, Tomasz Kowalski’s solo exhibition will open on May 27, in conjunction with ARCO Lisboa.
The expanded gallery will now continue to bring work to major international exhibitions—together, as before, but now under one name—starting with their participation in the Fixed section of miart, followed by the Gallery section of Art Basel in June. The following exhibitions will advance this commitment to build an international and intergenerational dialogue, correcting the context and expanding the range of artists in both programs, as seen in the upcoming program pairing Transavanguardia artist Enzo Cucchi with emerging Polish artist Alexandra Waliszewska. “This shows our approach: bringing together a great, internationally known artist and one that covers a wide, cross-disciplinary audience,” Consonni concluded. “It also creates a dialogue between Italy and Poland, where we each come from.”
Many Art Conversations
