ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE In October, the Double Exhibition Opens at the Arsenale of Venice

Photo above: Arte Laguna / Photo credit: MarcoTote

From 2 to October 24 2021, the collective exhibition of the Arte Laguna Prize returns to the iconic spaces of the Arsenale Nord in Venice. The exhibition is now a biennial and presents the finalists of the 14th and 15th edition of the competition. A major event where 240 works from all over the world will be exhibited in 4,000 square meters of exhibition space to celebrate 15 years of the Arte Laguna Prize, founded in 2006 by the Cultural Association MoCA of Venice.

The 240 artists selected by the international jury will exhibit works of painting, photographic art, sculpture and installation, video art and short films, performance, virtual art, digital graphics, land art, urban art and design. In addition, a 360° overview of international contemporary art, enriched by exciting art talks and guided tours, will revitalize the Venetian autumn, an unmissable event in one of the most prominent and evocative locations of the art world.

The exhibition will combine two editions of the historic art competition. Curated by Igor Zanti, director of IED Firenze and Matteo Galbiati, who will create a touching dialogue among the works selected from over 22,000 entries by the jury made up of curators, museum directors, art experts of international level.

Arte Laguna / Photo credit: Giacomo Di Lillo

Caudan Arts Centre / Courtesy of Arte Laguna Prize

The opening event and the awards ceremony will occur on Saturday, October 2, from 5 pm. The seven absolute winners of the two editions will be awarded a cash prize of 10,000 euros each and also the 42 artists chosen by the international partners of the Arte Laguna Prize for the participation in art residencies, gallery exhibitions, festivals, collaborations with companies and awards for the artistic reuse of recycled materials.

At the Arte Laguna Prize exhibition, discover the works of Henry Le, the Vietnamese artist that the Cultural Association MoCA brings to Venice for the first time. The solo exhibition Soul Energy curated by Chiara Canali, from 2 to October 12, at Tesa 99 of the Arsenale Nord, will be a retrospective. The artist takes to stage a series of large-scale paintings majestic sculptures that evoke his homeland and reflect his artistic research.

Arte Laguna Prize continues to expand its international network by forging collaborations and offering artists unique opportunities for visibility. One of these is the exclusive preview of the extensive exhibition in October at the Arsenale of Venice, which will be held from July 16 to August 14 at the magnificent theatre of the Caudan Arts Center on the island of Mauritius. In addition, a selection of 15 finalist artists of the Arte Laguna Prize will exhibit together with 15 Mauritian artists.

The President of the Italian Republic has awarded Arte Laguna Prize a medal. It has the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory and the Sea, the Veneto Region, the Municipality of Venice, the Ca the Foscari University of Venice and the European Institute of Design.

Arte Laguna / Photo credit: Nicola D Orta

THE EXHIBITION DATES

• Final exhibition Arte Laguna Prize, Arsenale Nord | Venice - 2- 24 October 2021

• Opening: October 2 2021, 5 pm (Free entrance with reservation required)

• Exhibition: October 3 – 24, 10 am – 6 pm (Open daily with entry fee)

Arte Laguna / Photo credit: Valeriia Safiulina

THE JURY

For the 14th edition: Iwona Blazwick – director of the Whitechapel Gallery in London; Karel Boonzaaijer – designer, architect and professor at the University of Applied Science in Aachen; Valentino Catricalà – contemporary art curator and art section director of the Maker Faire – The European Edition; Aldo Cibic – the fundamental name of made in Italy design in the world; Erin Dziedzic – Chief Curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri; Zhao Li – professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and curator of the Chinese Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale; Riccardo Passoni – director of GAM – the Modern Art Gallery in Turin; Vasili Tsereteli – Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.

For the 15th edition: Bénédicte Alliot – General Director of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris; Nathalie Angles – Founder and executive director of Residency Unlimited in the United States; Lorenzo Balbi – Artistic director at MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna; Marcus Fairs – Founder and editor-in-chief of Dezeen in the United Kingdom; Sophie Goltz – Curator, Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Director of the International Summer Academy in Salzburg; Toshiyuki Kita – Japanese Designer, honoured with the ADI Lifetime Achievement Award "Compasso d'Oro alla carriera Internazionale"; Beate Reifenscheid – Director of Ludwig Museum Koblenz and President of ICOM Germany.