Artissima opened yesterday in Turin, and the art fair's 18th edition once again confirms its unique focus on emerging art. The event is in fact a hybrid, funded largely by the region and the city, which require that a sizable part of the budget is spent on non-commercial projects. It could be compared to "a large Liste without Art Basel on the side," said the fair's director, Francesco Manacorda.

This attitude gives Artissima a very palatable flavor. For the heart of the fair, Manacorda has devised “Simple Rational Approximations," a curated exhibition with the Turin-born artist Lara Favaretto that "imagines a museum from an artist's point of view," the director explained. "All the departments have been rethought in the spirit of immateriality." The "permanent collection," for example, is entirely composed of spectacular cakes created in homage to the likes of Martin Kippenburger and Ryan Gander. Artist-run spaces from all over Italy have also been invited to take over empty venues throughout the city. The art market is only one part of the equation here.

The fair itself has made some brave curatorial decisions, including the "Back to the Future" section. Initiated by Manacorda last year, its selection committee (Tate's Jessica Morgan, the New Museum's Massimiliano Gioni, and the Centre Pompidou's Christine Macel) has cherry-picked galleries presenting projects by artists from the 1960s or 1970s, whom, they feel, deserve to be rediscovered. "Artissima is a fair where you come to discover art," said Manacorda. "Collectors expect to come here and know 30 percent of what they see."

Artissima has a key asset: every year, the bank foundation CRT puts aside €350,000 ($484,551) to be spent on acquisitions for Turin's contemporary art museums GAM and Castello del Rivoli. "This is a good incentive for galleries to show museum-quality works," said Manacorda, "and it's a stabilizing factor for the fair." This might not be a big budget in London or Basel, but in Turin, where most of the works are below the €20,000 ($27,682) mark, it changes the whole dynamic.

Yesterday afternoon, stickers blaring "purchased by GAM/Castello del Rivoli" kept cropping up throughout the booths, boosting dealers' morale. Castello del Rivoli's acquisitions include three works by Diego Perrone from New York's Casey Kaplan, a delicate bronze installation by Sigalit Landau from Paris's Kamel Mennour, and three pieces by the young Brazilian Matheus Rocha Pitta from London's Sprovieri. Among GAM's purchases are a video by Karl Holmqvist from London's Hollybush Gardens and a piece by Elizabeth Price from the London and Brussels gallery MOT International. When it came to prices, however, dealers were tight-lipped. ARTINFO was told that CRT sent out curators for the selection, and bankers for the negotiations. Many gallerists had to cheer themselves up thinking about the prestige of the collections their artists had just joined.

CRT money aside, the mood on the floor had a tranquil, dolce vita feel. "People are not rushing here," said Nicolo Cardi of Milan's Cardi Black Box. "And collectors are mainly from this country. It's easier for Italian people." If the gallery selection is truly international, collectors yesterday were overwhelmingly Italian, with the odd French — and, somewhat surprisingly, a group of Canadians. Very few Americans made the trip.

"For me it has always been a curators' fair," said Saskia Dams, co-director of Stuttgart's Parrotta gallery, which is presenting a tongue-in-cheek take on Constructivism by the young Benjamin Bronni. This doesn't mean that there was no real business. "We made our target before the opening bell," said Matthew Drutt from the Lisson Gallery, who sold two Tony Cragg and two Jason Martin pieces. London's Selma Feriani, at Artissima for the first time, was also pleased to announce the sale of Ziad Antar's 2003 photograph "Pine Trees, Jezzines" to a British collector for €5,500 ($7,611). Baron Osuna, from the Kyoto-based Super Window Project, placed a €5,000 ($6,920) floor sculpture by Sandrine Pelletier in the Caldic Collection. "I like the intellectual flavor of the fair," said Osuna, who is also showing works by Soshi Mastunobe and L.G. Williams.

For Nicola Mafessoni, from Brescia's Massimo Minini, the fair was quiet — "too quiet probably," he complained. Yesterday, they sold an ensemble of works on paper by David Malkovic to an Italian collector for €18,000 ($24,887), and an Ian Hamilton Finley sculpture for €24,000 ($33,191). "It's a good starting point, but we need more movement," he said. The feeling was shared by Paris's Samy Abraham, who for his first ever fair, is presenting all his gallery artists including the promising duo Bevis Martin and Charlie Youle.

But the atmosphere was far from gloomy. The slower pace, and large aisles — where heiress Margherita Missoni and Fiat boss Lapo Elkann were spotted — made for an highly enjoyable experience. The focus at Artissima is on discovery, the possibility to meet people and discuss art. Lisson's Drutt told ARTINFO how in Paris or London, he spent his days giving prices. In Turin, people asked about media and artistic concepts. "In Miami or at the Armory, I wouldn't be very happy selling only two pieces the first day," said Carol Cohen from New York's Untitled. "Here I'm happy."

"Today, discovery might be the solution," said artistic director Manacorda. "This is my recipe for the crisis. When you are addicted, you are addicted whatever the conditions. Artissima is a fair for people addicted to contemporary art."