ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Advisory Council of Arte Laguna Prize is composed of high-profile personalities with a deep expertise in the art world globally.

Born in Venice in 1970, from one of the oldest European aristocratic families, with legacies in the Austro-Hungarian, Norman, Sicilian and Venetian dogate empires. Patron, collector and art curator, she is internationalist lawyer and university professor in law and art. Trained mainly in France at the Academy of Fine Arts – and at the Schuman University of Strasbourg – she held the role of Assistant to the Vice President of the European Parliament, collaborating in the drafting not only of Regulation 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods but also of Council Directive 93/7/EEC – March, 15th 1993, on the concept and principle of restitution. Graduated in Italy at the University of Law Ferrara, she was assistant to Prof. Farina. Besides, she oversaw relations with the Marmottan Museum in Paris for exhibitions at Palazzo Diamanti. She also attended Masters in international law in Rome, as legal manager at the Christie’s International Auction House, with skills on the principles of circulation, authentication and crisis management of sub-auctioned artworks. After obtaining his Doctorate and Post Doctorate – Phd in “Comparative Legal Systems” at the La Sorbonne University, Paris – she took in Rome on teaching roles at the Universities “La Sapienza” and “San Raffaele”, in matters related to law and art, promotion and protection, certification and Cyber security. Chiara was also a law professor at the Paris Chamber of Commerce. She curated pavilions and collateral events connected to the Venice Biennial Art and Architecture. She was curator and project legal manager at the Venice Biennial Art, for the Iran State Pavilion and for the Almati Museum of Kazakhstan. Founder, together with the artist Rosa Mundi, of the BIAS since 2009, in collaboration with the Sicily Region, the Municipality of Palermo, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she created and promoted the first and the only biennial of contemporary art in the world based on the artists’ subdivision in spiritual pavilions, thus expressing Vladimir Kandinsky’s reflections on a practical and tangible level. Chiara curated the Risorgimento in Salemi and also the Mafia Museum. She collaborated with the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial Art supporting the Superintendency of Venice for the exhibitions “Il Giorgione” and “Bosh” at Palazzo Grimani, under the direction of the Hon. Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi. Other projects: the French week at the Monte Amita Music Festival – Caste Porrona with the Debussy Center (France); “La Via dei mille in Musica” music festival in Marsala and Salemi; cretto di Burri in Gibellina Vecchia, “Smart City” in 2012 and “La via dei Librai” in 2016 in Palermo. From 2016 she run “Le Fondamenta Nove dell’arte” and “The Doge Venice Red Carpet”. Furthermore, the “A Tide of Books” initiative also deserves a special mention, that promote special roots of Venice in historic districts like Cannaregio, Castello, Arsenale and North Laguna. Chiara is currently President of the Donà dalle Rose Foundation, President of WISH, President of BIAS, Board Member of Fabbricerie Palermo Cathedral Fabbricerie, Co-Founder of the Amsterdam Trasformatorio Foundation, active member at the Cairotronic – Egyptian Biennial and member in the Skate Park Italy Board, member of the Committee for the restoration and protection of the Burri Cretto. In the past, she was member of the Board of Directors at IUAV. She received the Pirandello Award, the Platamone Award and the MTV Awards. Juror member for the “Giorgio Morandi Sustainability Art Award”, for the “Bologna Future Film Festival Committee”, for the CANIFFF. Chiara is a writer loved by audiences and critics, whose works range from law to fiction. She has written “The Notice of 1 Euro Houses”, “Bonus for facades and earthquake bonuses and restoration bonuses for notified real estate” amended and transformed into law, subsequently. She realized screenplays, directions and novels: “Il Bestiaro nel Roseto”, “Judas the guess: the trial of humanity” staged by Teatro degli Esoskeletri in 12 theaters and broadcast on Rai 1 and Vatican Radio, the short film “Humanity’s time life” focused on emigration in the Mediterranean, with a strong attention to the war in Syria, “The game of the time: traveling with Ulysses” the popular equestrian theater musical.

Art critic and curator, he teaches history of art and history of design at Accaddemia Albertina in Turin, Contemporary Art at IED, Turin and Contemporary Art and Culture at IULM, Milan. He previously taught at Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and at Brera Academy, Milan, at IAAD in Turin, while doing many visiting professors, among which one at Helsinky Academy. He graduated in History of Cinema at the University of Turin, with a specialization in History of Art at the University of Siena. Among the most famous curators and art critics of the italian gamut, he started his career at the end of the 80s with exhibitions about turin futurism.
As a critic he wrote for art journals like Tema Celeste, Arte and Flash Art. Since the 90s is curator of many exhibitions linked to new Italian visual arts. He was curator for Prague Biennale (2003-2005) and commissioner for the sections “Anteprima” of XIV Quadriennale of Rome (2004).
In 2009 he was chosen as curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 53th Biennale of Venice. The starting point of the exhibition (titled “Collaudi”) was an homage to Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Futurism. From 2010 to 2018 he has been President of the Readers Association of Turin.
Among his most recent exhibitions, the ontological about Andy Warhol at Palazzo Ducale of Genoa (2016) and Edward Hopper in Palazzo Fava (Bologna) and Vittoriano (Rome) in 2015-2016, the collective exhibitions “Jackson Pollock and the School of New York (Palazzo Reale, Milan) and Easy Rider (Vittoriano, Rome, 2018). “Il mito della motocicletta come arte”, Reggia di Venaria, 2018, Warhol and Friends, Palazzo Albergati (Bologna, 2018), “Diabolik alla Mole”. Cinema Museum, Turin, 2021, “Carlo Levi”, GAM Torino, 2022, “Giacomo Soffiantino”, Fondazione Ferrero, Alba 2022.
For Gallerie d’Italia with Intesa Sanpaolo he curated for Palazzo Zevallos of Naples the exhibitions dedicated to New York, London, Berlin and Los Angeles, and the exhibition “Futuro” at Palazzo Leoni Montanari of Vicenza (2020).
He published numerous essays about art and music critic: “Da che arte stai?, Pop, Sex e Nati sotto il Biscione” for Rizzoli, the biography about Renato Zero and Lucio Dalla for Baldini & Castoldi, “Canzoni d’amore” for Mondadori, “Arte e Libertà?” for Giubilei Regnani. In February 2021 he publishes a new essay “Da che arte stai? Dieci lezioni sul contemporaneo” with Rizzoli.

President of Association of Asian Contemporary Sculptors (China)
Doctor of Art Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan
Member of Taylor Foundation in Paris, France.
Supporter of Arte Laguna Prize, Italy.

Zeng Zhenwei was born in Guangdong in 1960 and studied in Japan from 1986. He holds a PhD in Art Engineering from Kyushu University, where he was mentored by Mr. Sato, the former Vice President of the university and President of the Asian Landscape Design Association.He set up the On Design Co. design research institute in Tokyo in 1996. In 2003, he returned to China as part of the Hundred Talents Program and became the first head of the design department at Guangzhou Sun Yat-sen University’s School of Communication and Design. He joined the faculty of Guangzhou Jinan University’s School of Arts in 2007 and became China’s regional president of the Asian Modern Sculptors Association in 2012. He became a member of France’s Taylor Foundation for Art in 2017 and was recognized as an Art Cultural Master by the Guangzhou Municipal Government in 2020.

Zeng is skilled at cross-disciplinary design and has created works ranging from urban public art design to furniture product design, international brand strategy design, urban landscape comprehensive design, and engineering color design. He is committed to promoting original Chinese designs and contemporary art on an international level. As an international artist, Zeng has created numerous large-scale public art installations in the CBD area of Guangzhou, China. He skillfully employs the visual language of contemporary art to express the traditional culture with regional folk characteristics, incorporating profound symbolic representations and creating a unique artistic style that exudes strong centripetal force and radiation effects.

Over his many years as an artist, Zeng has developed his own unique and recognizable intellectual property: ZengTube Man artistic image. Its minimalist concept can convey emotions through movement. Using contemporary art visual language, Zeng can perform worldly reality while conveying optimistic positivity and removing exclusivity from life philosophy while conceptually expressing emotions through action and form, reconstructing scenes, and depicting emotional worlds, allowing those Tubeman to resonate with any viewer. His art works have been exhibited and awarded worldwide and are collected by numerous domestic and foreign art institutions and private collectors. His representative works include Gate to the Future, Embrace the world, Friends, Myriad of Birds Fly Back to Their Nests, Ao Fish Dance, Talents from all over the World, Heading to the Palace and so on.

Born and raised in Venice, Alberto Torsello inaugurates his professional activity in the lagoon city. Starting from historic buildings and simultaneously developing intense research in the field of surveying, he comes to work in the field of restoration and new architecture thanks to the foundation, in 2006, of Torsello Architettura.
Over the years he has collaborated as author and curator with various specialist magazines and has combined his professional activity with teaching and scientific commitment at the Universities of Genoa, Venice and Trieste.
The versatility of his skills allowed him to take part in internationally renowned projects, including the reconstruction of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice with Gae Aulenti, the setting up of the Museo della Gondola with Tobia Scarpa, the refurbishment project of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. with Rem Koolhaas, and the restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie in San Marco with David Chipperfield. In 2015 he carried out the restoration of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice, focusing the project on the conservation of the key points of the work created by Sansovino and creating a harmonious dialogue between innovation and tradition.
In 2018 he won the prestigious Compasso d’Oro thanks to the design and construction of a particular frame model. In recent years, he has also expanded his professional activity to the Interior Design field, not only thanks to the Milan Central Market project, built in 2021, but also thanks to the collaboration and artistic direction of one of the oldest and most prestigious houses in Venetian fabrics.

Igor Zanti was born in 1973 in Milan. He graduated in modern literature at the University of Milan with a thesis on the Medieval and Modern Art History about painting in fifteenth century in Lombardia.
For several years he carries out different activities as a critic and curator of contemporary art and applied arts exhibitions, in collaboration with private galleries, institutional spaces in Italy and abroad. From 2006 to 2019 he was curator and head of the jury of Arte Laguna Prize.
Artist consultant for Undergallery cultural association in Daverio (Varese) and for the International Art Club in Lugano. In 2008 he was the artistic director of the Brolo Museum – Art and Culture Centre in Mogliano Veneto (Treviso). In early 2008, he conceived the project New Art for defining and promoting the New Pop movement in Italy. He was the curator of 2009 and 2010 editions of Ceres for Art prize. In 2010 he was the co-curator of the international fair AAM supported by Arte Ispe Dixit of Como and Geneva. At the beginning of 2011, on behalf of MAE, of the Italian Embassy in India and the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi he was the curator of the Dadaumpop, a retrospective of italian neo pop, exhibited in Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi. He works on promotional project of Indian art and Italian art in collaboration with Kanchi Metha, curator of the Indian Pavillion at th Prague Biennale.He teaches Visual Communication and Contemporary Art Phenomenology at the IED College of Milan. He writes on Espoarte magazine, on Lobodilattice webzine and collaborates with InsideArt Magazine. Since 2013 he is the IED Florence director.

Advisor to Family Offices in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa & Europe on Philanthropy & Art Collecting.
Advisor to Museums, Foundations & Cultural Institutions across Europe, North & South America, Africa, MiddleEast & Asia Pacific on Fundraising & International Partnership.
Advisory Board Member of Arte Laguna Prize Venice, Berlin Art Prize, ArtCare Prize Vienna, Residency Unlimited New York, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere Roma, Fondazione Berengo Venezia, Fondation Fiminco Romainville, Instituto Inclusartiz Rio de Janeiro, Vision Arts Festival Switzerland, Nou Le Morne Mauritius.
Patron of The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, State Hermitage Museum Saint Petersburg, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, The Indian Museum Kolkata, Ludwig Museum Koblenz, KW Institute of Contemporary Art Berlin, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris.
Honorary Member of VIP Collector’s Group for Art Basel, ARCO Madrid , FIAC Paris, Contemporary Istanbul, Vienna Contemporary, Artissima Turin, Frieze Art Fair London & New York.
Graduated in Law from Symbiosis Law College Pune in 2009.
Diploma in International Strategy & Diplomacy from London School of Economics 2011.
Diploma from Sotheby’s Institute of Art on Art as a Global business 2016.

Princess Alia Al-Senussi, PhD, is an active member of the contemporary art world and currently serves as Art Basel’s UK and MENA Representative amongst other roles. In 2019 she was appointed Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, where she focuses on developing international partnerships whilst working on a variety of projects across the Ministry’s commissions. Dr Alia is closely collaborating with the new Thunaiyat Ad-Diriyah Foundation, which is currently developing two major international biennales as well as strategy for the Visual Arts Commission. She is also Senior Arts and Culture Advisor to the Milken Institute and an affiliated scholar and guest lecturer at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and its Center for Middle East Studies.
In her professional and philanthropic roles, Dr Alia brings breadth of experience from previous affiliations including chair of the Tate Young Patrons (and representative to the Tate Patrons board), the Board of Patrons of Art Dubai (serving an integral role in the founding of the fair) and currently continuing to serve as a founding member of the Tate’s Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, the Board of 1:54 The African Art Fair, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. Recently, she served on the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Dr Alia is currently a member of the Tate Modern Advisory Council, the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Delfina Foundation, the Board of Trustees of The Showroom (London), the Board of Trustees of Global Heritage Fund UK, the Board of Trustees of Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (UK / Egypt / Italy), the Board of Governors of Aiglon College (Switzerland) as well as a member of Therme Advisory Board (Germany) and the UCCA Contemporary Circle (China).
Alia has a PhD in Politics from SOAS (London), examining the nexus of power and cultural patronage, featuring Saudi Arabia as a case study. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations (honors) and Middle East Studies from Brown University and holds an MA in Political Science from Brown and an MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society from LSE.

Krist Gruijthuijsen (born in 1980, NL) has been curator and director of KW Institute for Contemporary Art since July 2016. At KW he has curated exhibitions with, among others, Hanne Lippard, Ian Wilson, Adam Pendleton, Ronald Jones, Hiwa K, Willem de Rooij, Beatriz González, David Wojnarowicz and Hreinn Friðfinnsson.
Gruijthuijsen has been artistic director of the Grazer Kunstverein in Graz from 2012 until 2016 and has been course director of the MA fine arts department at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam from 2011 until 2016. He is one of the co-founding directors of Kunstverein in Amsterdam and has organized numerous exhibitions and projects over the past decade, including Manifesta 7 (Trentino-South Tyrol, IT), Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center (Istanbul), Artists Space (New York), Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade, RS), Swiss Institute (New York), Galeria Vermelho (São Paulo, BR), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, NL), Arnolfini (Bristol, GB), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City, US), and Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane, AU).
Gruijthuijsen has produced, edited and published extensively in numerous collaborations with JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag, Sternberg Press, Mousse Publishing Printed Matter, Inc., Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König and Kunstverein Publishing. Recent publications are amongst others Mierle Laderman Ukeles – Seven Work Ballets (Sternberg Press, 2015), Vincent Fecteau (Sternberg Press, 2015), Writings and Conversations by Doug Ashford (Mousse Publishing, 2014), Lisa Oppenheim: Works 2003–2013 (Sternberg Press, 2014), The Encyclopedia of Fictional Artists and The Addition (JRP|Ringier, 2010), and several others under the umbrella of Kunstverein Publishing.

Mary Elizabeth Klein | Arte Laguna Prize

Mary Klein is a Family Office Chief Financial/Operations Officer experienced in advising clients and directing the execution of services and operations. Her background includes diverse roles as a Big 4 Senior Partner and Chief Financial Officer for an ultra-high net worth Family Office. She currently functions as the Chief Operations/Financial /Administrative Officer for a privately-held, multi-stakeholder global law firm serving Fortune 500 clients. Her background includes planning for next generation wealth transfer and enhancing organizational processes and systems. This was accomplished by reviewing investment portfolios from both an asset and liability; leveraging skill sets in international finance; restructuring and recapitalizing businesses to grow internally or through acquisition; and effectively communicating and executing on shareholder/family priorities.
Mary’s philanthropic experience includes: overseeing the real estate development of an education campus; managing a $250 million+ art collection; writing and speaking about art as an asset class for family offices; developing compliance and best practice programs for non-profit structures.
She serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Art Students League of New York and has been representing Carnegie Hall as an Advisory Director for over nine years. In addition, she has been performing in Vienna at the European Music Institute and Golden Key Music Festival since 2015.

Mr. Shaan Kundomal is an experienced executive who has since 2010 setup and invested in the following sectors: Renewable Energy, Real Estate, Financial Services, Technology and Agriculture. He is a shareholder and holds executive positions in a number of successful ventures including Capital Horizons Group (a financial conglomerate present in Mauritius, South Africa and the UAE) and Igknight (a technology company involved in cyber security and public safety) representing NEC in Mauritius. His newest venture will encompass AI with Agriculture in an age where food security is becoming ever more challenging.
Mr. Kundomal sits on the Board of Directors of several well known entities, including the SBM India fund and the SBM Maharajah fund, promoted by the SBM group, the second biggest banking conglomerate of Mauritius, OLA energy holdings ltd, a multibillion Euro turnover pan African Oil and Gas multinational. In his capacity of CEO of Capital Horizons, he also regularly advises Ultra High Net Worth Individual, multinationals and Governments (including sovereign funds).
Mr. Kundomal holds a LL.M. in International Business Law from Paris II (Pantheon-Assas) where he graduated with high honors.

After graduating as an attorney, he deepened his expertise through further postgraduate studies in law and taxation. For many years he was also legal lecturer for the lawyers and solicitors of Ernst & Young International.
As an internationally experienced and renowned lawyer, he oversees mandates. A high level of expertise, broad specialist knowledge and extensive experience make him an indispensable and valued partner.
His key area of work comprises amongst others organisation and execution of complex legal and tax planning for private clients and companies as well as strategic management of negotiations including consulting work in the field of family and inheritance law, estate planning, wills and the execution of wills.

Based in New York City since 2007, Richard is recognized for his expertise in Contemporary Art, having worked at auction houses, galleries, and as a consultant for art fairs and museums. Pioneer of the Lower East Side art district, he founded in 2015 his eponymous gallery on 154 Ludlow Street. Richard is Chair of the Board of Residency Unlimited and Co-Founder of CHAMPAGNE FREREJEAN FRERES. He speaks 3 languages and has an M.A. in Marketing & Business Management from EDC Paris, a Master of Wine from the University of Burgundy, and an M.A. from Christie’s Education, New York in Art Business. In 2019 he received the FIAF Young Patron Award.

Joachim Pflieger worked at the Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, and at the New York City Opera between 2006 and 2012, within the artistic management of these multidisciplinary institutions. More specifically, in the field of music and live entertainment, he worked with the conductor Laurence Equilbey for the launch of the Scène Musicale program, and within the Centre national de la danse. Furthermore, he was the managing director of the contemporary art gallery Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris and Pantin. He more specifically worked with contemporary artists such as Bob Wilson, Amos Gitai, or choreographer Lucinda Childs. Since 2017, he has directed the Fondation Fiminco (a new cultural and artistic hub of 11.000 sq meters in the Paris suburbs), as well as the artist residency program of Fondation Fiminco, and manages the cultural strategy of the company Groupe Fiminco.