JURY OF THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE

Igor Zanti was born in 1973 in Milan. He is graduated in modern literature at the University of Milan with a thesis on the Medieval and Modern Art History. For several years he carries out different activities as a critic and curator of contemporary art and applied arts exhibitions. He conceived in 2006, with Arte Laguna of Mogliano Veneto (Treviso), the “Arte Laguna Prize”, he was the curator for painting and photography sections during the 2006 and 2007 editions, the president of the Jury for the sculpture section during the 2008 and 2009 editions. In 2008 he was the artistic director of the Brolo Museum – Art and Culture Centre in Mogliano Veneto (Treviso). In the early 2008, he conceived the project “Dadaumpop” for defining and promoting the New Pop movement in Italy. The project Dadaumpop was exhibited at the beginning of 2011 in India with the support of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Embassy in New Delhi, an the Italian Cultural institute. Since 2009 has been the artistic consultant for the Art Club International of Lugano and he teaches visual communication and contemporary art phenomenology at the IED College of Milan. In the 2009 he became chief curator at Arte Laguna Prizes. He collaborates with the Italian National Trust (FAI) for the organization of the annual film festival dedicated to the relationship between art and cinema. He collaborates with Italian and international galleries and museums.

Miguel Amado is a curator and critic. He currently is Senior Curator at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, England. He was the curator of the Portuguese Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale. He has been a curator at Tate St Ives, England, and the Centro de Artes Visuais in Coimbra, Portugal, among other institutions. He has also been a curatorial fellow at Rhizome at the New Museum and Independent Curators International as well as a curator-in-residence at the International Studio and Curatorial Program and the Abrons Arts Center, all in New York. He has curated exhibitions and projects at various institutions and events, including apexart in New York, the Museu Coleção Berardo in Lisbon, Frieze Projects at the Frieze Art Fair in London and No Soul for Sale: A Festival of Independents at the X Initiative in New York and Tate Modern in London. He has been a lecturer, symposium organizer, jury member, and researcher for institutions such as the Istituto Europeo di Design in Venice, ARCO in Madrid, the Fundación Botín in Santander, and the Mondriaan Fonds in Amsterdam. He was editor of the magazine W-Art. He is a critic for the magazine Artforum, and his writing has also appeared in magazines such as Flash Art and The Exhibitionist. He is a graduate of the MA Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art in London. His further education includes Night School at the New Museum in New York and the Independent Curators International Curatorial Intensive at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Awards include a Curators Grant of the Foundation for Arts Initiatives in New York.

An art historian who graduated in Modern Literature at the University of Milan. Since 2006 she has been Director of the Museum at Villa and Collezione Panza in Varese, which is part of the FAI Italian Environment Fund; specifically she is in charge of the planning, organization and curation of the cultural activities, the conservation and enhancement of the museum’s permanent collection and of the figure of collector Giuseppe Panza di Biumo. She also deals with the relations with public and private institutions, fundraising, the establishment of relationships and connections with national and international bodies, with artists, collectors, curators and museum directors and the preparation and joint planning of projects and exhibitions.
Between 2005 and 2006 she was a consultant to the publishing house Electa Musei Mondadori and Silvana Editoriale, between 2002 and 2004 she served as Head of the Culture Department of the Municipality of Varese, and Director of the Civic Museums in Varese. Between 1998 and 2001 she was given the role of Curator at the Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Masnago Castle in Varese.

Since 1981 she has been the Artistic Director of the festival “Drodesera”, which brings together the best contemporary live-art in a breathtaking natural setting, in the wildest part of Trentino.
The co-founder of the international network Città Che Danzano CQD with Hana Barata (Lisbon) and Juan Eduardo Lopez (Barcelona), which in the 1990s exported the trend of dance-architecture worldwide. In 2005 she was the co-creator of the “International Prize of Performance”, in collaboration with the City Gallery of Contemporary Art of Trento; in 2007 she won a major tender notice and founded FIES FACTORY ONE, supporting the creation of contemporary performance art: the first Italian project for the long-term support and residency for under-35 artists. In 2013 she became the Curator of “LIVE WORKS”, the platform dedicated exclusively to Performance, for which she has curated and created a collection of works of performance art. Today she is directing Centrale Fies, a venue that is open 365 days a year: a study center on the languages of contemporary art, the destination of residencies in support of artists, a place of continuous experimentation using culture as a tool to develop integrated solutions that are able to generate social, artistic and economic outcomes for the territory.

Editor in Chief of the Monthly IL FOTOGRAFO.
Artistic director of CASA DEI TRE OCI in Venice and artistic director of the Festival of Photography in Capri.
Founder, and currently supervisor, of the postgraduate Master of Photography organized in collaboration with NABA and Fondazione FORMA.
Consultant of Fondazione di Venezia for the management of photographic heritage.
Co-founder of the company PICC (Photography Italian Culture Capital) www.picc-image.org
Founder of Still – photography, showroom and gallery. www.stillfotografia.it
From 2005 to 2014 director of Contrasto – Milan and vice president of Fondazione Forma in Milan.
In the past, artistic director of the Festival of Photography in Savignano sul Rubicone, of the International Biennial of Photography in Turin. For over 15 years, a journalist and photography critic for Vivimilano and Corriere della Sera.
Expert in the photography collecting market, in the years 2002-2003 curator of the first photographic auctions at Sotheby’s in Milan.
From 1995 to 2002 director of the Italian Foundation for Photography. In the 1990s director of the School of Photography at the European Institute of Design IED in Turin.
Curator of photographic exhibitions and author of several books about photography, among these, Collezionare Fotografia of 2010 (with a new edition in 2013), published by Contrasto.

An urban planner, Professor of Urban and Landscape Design at the Department of Culture del Progetto at IUAV University in Venice, he carried out research, education and technical assistance in the fields of urban development and landscape planning, urban design and architectural heritage and landscape conservation. On behalf of the IUAV University, he has coordinated educational and scientific exchanges with universities around the world and contributed to the establishment of the European University Network UNISCAPE for the application of the European Landscape Convention. The Director of the Master in “Landscape and Garden Architecture” at IUAV, he also lectures in other post-graduate educational programs, both national and international (master’s and doctoral degrees). He also works internationally as a designer, for the development of urban and landscape plans, and as a consultant to various international organizations (European Union, UNDP and UNESCO, World Bank and Interamerican Development Bank). In Italy he has participated in urban planning competitions and in the preparation of urban planning projects at different scales. The author of several publications, he has exhibited the outcomes of his work and professional education in national and international exhibitions.

Suad Garayeva is Curatorial Director of YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, overseeing YARAT’s permanent collection and temporary exhibition programme. Previously she worked as a curator and a specialist in Contemporary Art from Russia and the CIS at Sotheby’s, London. She curated the pioneering At The Crossroads exhibitions, which introduced contemporary art from the Caucasus and Central Asia in 2013 and 2014. She also headed up Russian and Eastern European contemporary art sales. Garayeva has been a long-time collaborator of YARAT, curating their pavilion at the GRID International Photography Biennale in 2012 and 2014. She has also worked on numerous international exhibitions, such as the National Pavilion of Azerbaijan at the 53rd and 54th Venice Biennales. Most recently she curated YARAT’s official Collateral Event at the 56th Venice Biennale – The Union of Fire and Water. Garayeva has an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from LSE and an MLitt in Modern and Contemporary Art from the University of Glasgow. She is a member of the Russian and Eastern European Acquisitions Committee at Tate Modern, London.

Born in 1978 in Tbilisi. In 1996 graduated from United Nations International School, New York. He studied at the University of Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, from which he graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 2012, he received an EMBA in Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.
In 2002 Vasili Tsereteli has become an Executive Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, founded in 1999. From 2006 to 2010 Vasili was a Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Vasili Tsereteli is Vice President of the Russian Academy of Arts, member of the Moscow Union of Artists, the Union of Artists of Russia, member of the Presidium of ICOM, member of CIMAM, member of the Council for Culture of the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Vasili Tsereteli is a member of the jury of the Kandinsky prize, a member of the jury of Sergei Kuryokhin prize, a member of the organizing committee of the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, art director of the International “Territory” Festival, commissioner of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation at the international exhibitions in Venice. Also Vasili Tsereteli is a member of the jury of the All-Russian contest of ideas of literature sites “Litsled”, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation “Support for children and families in difficult situations”. Vasili Tsereteli is a member of the Public Chamber of the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation. In 2012 Vasili Tsereteli was awarded the Cross of the Order of the King of Spain “For Civil Services”. In 2013 he joined the Public Council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the board of trustees of the National Centre for Contemporary Art. Also in 2013 Vasili was awarded the medal of Cyril and Methodius for contribution to the preservation and development of the Slavic cultural heritage. In 2015 he became a Knight (Chevalier) of The French Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres).

Sabrina van der Ley (*1967 in Cologne, Germany), studied Art History and English and German literature at the University of Cologne and delivered her M.A. thesis on Contemporary Conceptual Wall Drawings. After having worked for several years in galleries in Germany, England, and the United States, from 1994-97 she was the Managing Director of the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst am Museum Ludwig (Association for Contemporary Art at the Museum Ludwig). In 1997, she moved to Berlin to become the curator of the Hoffmann Collection. From 2000 until 2008, she was Artistic Director of Art Forum Berlin. Together with Markus Richter, she curated the large group exhibitions Ideal City—Invisible Cities in Zamość, Poland, and Potsdam, Germany, in 2006 and Megastructure Reloaded in Berlin in 2008.
Aside from managing and curatorial work, Sabrina van der Ley has been actively engaged in the cultural-political field. From 2002 -2004 she was a jury member of the Capital Culture Fund Berlin. In 2005 she initiated the Berlin Curators’ Jour-Fixe and she has been a member of the Council for the Arts Berlin and of the steering committee for creative industries of the Senator for Economics of Berlin. In 2005, she received the Gold Cross of Merit from the Republic of Poland for her engagement in working toward improving German-Polish relations in the field of contemporary art. From December 2008 until April 2011, Sabrina van der Ley has been the Chief Curator of Contemporary Art at Hamburger Kunsthalle’s Gallery of Contemporary Art, where she curated retrospectives of Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis (in collaboration with Carré d’Art, Nimes; Museum M, Leuven; Berardo Collection, Lisbon), Canadian artist Rodney Graham (in collaboration with MACBA, Barcelona and Museum for Contemporary Art Basel) and Hungarian artist Attila Csörgö (in collaboration with Ludwig Múzeum Budapest and MUDAM Luxembourg) as well as a large solo exhibition with site specific wall drawings by David Tremlett. She also arranged new presentations of the collection including All Art has been Contemporary which combined holdings from the contemporary collection with selected works from the collections of Old Masters, 19th century and classical modernism.
Since May 2011 she is the Director of Contemporary Art at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, where she has curated the exhibitions “Unfinished Journeys” and “I Wish This Was A Song – Music in Contemporay Art” both in 2012. In October 2013 opens her next exhibition “Inside Outside Architecture”.

He is currently based between Paris and the United Arab Emirates, where is Head of Scientific Research and Publications for the French agency FranceMuséums, in charge of the creation of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. He graduated in theoretical philosophy in Rome, received a master’s degree in Ancient Philosophy in Paris and graduated in Art History at the École du Louvre in Paris. His current research concerns the anthropology of Culture at the EHESS in Paris. He has written about art, culture and foreign policy for Europa, l’Unità, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Il Manifesto. He worked for the Presidency Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies, where he dealt with Cultural Heritage.
As a historian and author he is a curator of exhibitions and catalogues. In 2014 he published the book Cultura senza Capitale for Marsilio. Over the years he has worked as a producer and correspondent with almost all national French TVs and with the radio France Culture. Since 2010 he has been one of the authors of the Book of the Year by Treccani for contemporary art. He was the assistant of Antonio Tabucchi, for whom he edited the book L’oca al passo. He translated from French for publishers like Adelphi, Fazi and Sellerio and worked as an editor for several Italian publishers.

Bettina von Dziembowski is director of the Springhornhof Foundation & Art Association in Neuenkirchen (Lower Saxony).
She gained her first experience as a curator during her studies of applied cultural sciences at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg where she was one of the founders of the exhibition space “Kunstraum” at the Leuphana University. She completed her studies in 1995 with a work on the land art films of the video gallery Gerry Schum. This was followed by periods of work as a curator for exhibition projects in Hamburg, Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and at the Museum Van Bommel Van Dam in Venlo (The Netherlands). In 1997 she produced a documentation about the development of the land art projects in Neuenkirchen since 1967. Since the beginning of 2000 she has been director of Springhornhof Foundation and Art Association in Neuenkirchen where she has curated exhibitions and site-specific projects with artists such as Maria Eichhorn, Dan Peterman, Angela Bulloch, Simon Starling, Tony Cragg, Michael Asher, Dragset & Elmgreen, Jeppe Hein, Tue Greenfort and Marjetica Potrc. A significant aspect of her work involves the change of artistic perceptions of nature, landscape and rural space and the attempt to create a dialogue between landscape, art and audience. She is the editor of numerous publications, a member of several juries and one of the initiators of the European Landart Network ELAN.

SPECIAL PRIZES REPRESENTATIVES

Mr Abhishek Basu revived the Foundation which was started by his great grandfather and he is heading the International Relations of Basu Foundation for the Arts which comprises a jury of Indian & International Curators & Collectors who shortlist and finalise the selection of any artist selected and invited for the residency program.

The Berengo Foundation have two missions. The first is to to revitalize and re-energize the glass industry in Murano so that it can take its place, once more, as the world-renowned centre of the glass industry and be able to attract new communities to contribute to its economic success and financial security. The second mission of the foundation is to educate those who are already interested in the art of glass-making, inspire those who are looking for a new medium for their work, and re-establish glass making as a skill and craft of the highest significance. Fondazione Berengo provides educational opportunities by offering, in collaboration with Arte Laguna Prize, a residency program for glass artists. The aim of this collaboration is to educate and inspire those Artists that are looking for a new medium and are interested in the art of glass-making. A critically important aspect of this project, is to position the glass art making on an international stage by continuing the highly acclaimed GLASSTRESS series of exhibitions.
Through this art residency program, artists have the opportunity to work in one of the most prolific glass making centres in the world, learning the skill and craft of glass making from masters in the trade. The foundation also provides work placements, short courses and summer schools, organizes international symposia and conferences, promotes research and funding opportunities and celebrates the work of glass innovation in international exhibitions.

Wu Dar-Kuen was the chief curator of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, and the director of VT Artsalon. He is also a creative artist in addition to being a curator. He has long been focusing on the generation and evolution of contemporary art and Asian cultures. He not only reflects on the social conditions of Asian countries with his unique artistic language, but also contemplates the ways to embody the philosophy of “art without borders” by treating art as a means under the impact of globalization and neoliberalism. In his long and prolific career as an artist, his works are collected by many prestigious museums and foundations. He was also the curator of over one hundred exhibitions, among which the two Kuandu Biennials Artist in Wonderland (2012) and Recognition System (2014), Republic without People (2011) which was hosted by Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts and the winner of the Jury’s Special Award of the 10th Tai-Shin Arts Awards, as well as Asia Anarchy Alliance (2014) held at Tokyo Wonder Site and Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts were his curatorial tours de force.

OPEN, International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations is designed to expose artworks in the open spaces of Venice Lido, San Servolo Island and Molino Stucky at the same time of International Venice Film Festival.
Even though the jury takes into consideration sculptures and installations, this definition is mainly indicative and does not constitute an element of discrimination. Therefore, if the works realized without using the above-mentioned techniques are compatible with the outdoor exposure, they will still be considered as works related to OPEN purposes.The fundamental selection criteria are: quality, innovation and reserch on style.

Marika Vicari and Jernej Forbici cooperate with Art Stays (which is at its XIV edition) in the creation and organisation of several events and exhibitions of visual and performing art in Europe, studying and working with international artists and curators, creating events related to art, theatre and music, as well as conferences, readings, seminars and specific laboratories. They collaborate and curate the artistic-cultural planning of the FO.VI gallery of Kidričevo. They work with Italian and foreign institutions, both private and public, in order to promote the contemporary visual art. They select new proposals among young artists, looking for the most remarkable project for innovation, creativity and originality and they offer the opportunity to realize and present it to the contemporary art world.

Carlo Giordanetti, Creative Director of Swatch Ltd., is responsible for a unified brand identity across product, communications and store design, and for developing The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai as a strategic element of the overall brand program. Previously he held key creative positions with Montblanc, Brand DNA, and Piaggio, among others.
An international committee led by Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek makes the selection, looking for emotional power and provocative ideas while taking into consideration the vision, biography and portfolio of the artists who apply.

Luca Giordano is a young entrepreneur of the Venice Province. His creative nature pushed him to become an entrepreneur: his passion for art and fashion gives life to Deglupta, an idea which became soon a reality. The project starts from artists research, who paint their pictures on leathers. Then the single pieces are sewn by qualified craftsmen. The results are bags and accessorizes which are unique, precious and firts-quality pieces of art. These product are the fruit of a continuous research that can emphasise the prestige of made in Italy both in the choise of the artists and in the selection of the materials used in the production, but also in the models creation: these three elements are combined with great accuracy to obtain a winner product. Deglupta is looking for a dynamic artist with an open mind that pushes him to experiment new styles in order to obtain results that are always new, by making unique products, recognisable and capable of meeting the challenges of the market.

Spazio Thethis is a globally recognise reality that promotes contemporary art in all its fields. It gaves its contribute, over time, to make known and to enhance the Arsenale of Venice, collecting also several contemporary artworks that can be appreciated by visiting its great park. For several years it has turned its attention to environmental and public art by working with atists of the calibre of Robert Morris, Beverly Pepper and Michelangelo Pistoletto. The new section of the Prize dedicated to the Environmental art in collaboration with the Arte Laguna Prize, is born precisely thank to this interest.

The gallery for contemporary art in Regensburg, founded in 2010 by Isabelle Lesmeister, aims at supporting and promoting young artists born after 1970 who mostly work outside the mainstream. The program shows various art forms like painting, graphics, objects, sculpture and photography while giving special emphasis to an innovative picture language and extraordinary techniques. A high value is set on a more or less obvious art historical approach of the artists in his works. Idea, technique, aesthetics and the topic of artworks are very important criteria for the selection of artists for the gallery.

Gaia Gallery was founded in October 2014 in one of the most unique buildings of Istiklal Avenue, the Elhamra Arcade.The gallery’s founder Nil Nuhoglu, after graduating from University of Birmingham with Bachelor’s degree on History of Art and Philosophy have created an environment to form a strong art platform with the aim of presenting current issues through various disciplines and topics. Gaia’s main aim is to discover young artists from around the world and introduce them to the local art scene as well as opening up global communication channels for the local artists. Gaia Gallery has launched an editions section in October 2015 named Gaia Editions, whose goal is to introduce and educate young collectors and help build a bridge between young artists and driving force for them to create a collection of their own style.

Ivy Peng studied Museology at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and worked for Beijing Highlight Gallery and the China Modern & Contemporary Art Document Research Center (CCAD). She was editor in the field of art and she was curator of different exhibition. Today she is the general manager of Beijing Mingtai Culture & Art. She is also the executive director of Art Nova 100, which was born five years ago to help young artists to grow together in a new and healthy order considering that they represent the future and its possibilities. Art Nova 100 appreciates those artists who have their own individuality and their own original ideas, those ones who are constantly evolving and developing, whose liberated thought processes are reflected in their works.

Maurizio Riva was born in 1954, he graduated at the School of Art in Cantù and when he was young he started early to work in his father’s company, which had been set up by his grandfather and it was specialized in the production of solid wood furniture. He is the author and the promoter of important projects which link the “wood reality” and the business world to art, architecture, design, to the social awareness and to the sustainability. He has been always close to young designers and artists and he is always looking for new ideas which can express the business philosophy and which consider the wood as the design essential element.

In 1993 Mr Fernando Santos founded Galeria Fernando Santos in Porto, which marks the beginning of Rua Miguel Bombarda as a street devoted to art galleries. In cooperation with the Arte Laguna, the gallery looks for new forms of artistic expression (beyond the usual) like videos, performances, and installations. It also values works capable of reaching different cultures, that is, works made by artists, whose cultural context is very different from ours, but in the meantime their works have to be understandable. It seeks artists, whose works can enhance their artistic career and that allow the gallery to organize significant exhibitions in museums and prestigious institutional spaces. The choice relies on artists that also fit for the gallery’s exhibition line.

Ksenia Serdyuk was born in 1985 in Severodvinsk. In 2007, she graduated in Art History from the St. Petersburg State University with a thesis on the Еuropean Art of the 17th – 19th centuries. In 2013, she attended classes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York. Since 2004, Ksenia Serdyuk has been focusing on contemporary art and has been working in a gallery business. In 2006, with her father, art collector Fedor Serdyuk, she founded a contemporary art gallery ART re.FLEX. Each year she administrates exhibitions at the gallery spaceas well as Russian and International art projects of ART re.FLEX in St Petersburg, Moscow and abroad. Since 2014, ART re.FLEX Gallery has become a partner of ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE.
ART re.FLEX criteria of selection the winner artist of the “Artist in Gallery” special prize is based on gallery’s vision and passion for art. Gallery’s aim is to support and to exhibit high standard contemporary art of emerging and mid-career international artists who work in a range of media.

Holger Sprengel is an art collector with several decades of experience into business.
Art today raises complex questions regarding the dialogue between artists and territories, urban and natural spaces. In this sense, they are interested in the way in which the artists question themselves about the space, whether it is tangible or intangibile, and about how their artistic research deals with cultural identity, modernity and traditions. Languages may vary from fotography to installation, from video to painting and sculpture.

The collaboration with the Arte Laguna Prize was born to support young artists in their creative research, making the millenary lost-wax bronze casting technique a daily and dynamic experimentation.
With a young team, the Artistic Foundry Battaglia welcomes artists offering them a studio and the assistance to create a work, which express the technical aspects of the process, and to bring them to the frontiers of contemporaneity.