AMBASSADOR

The ambassadors of the Arte Laguna Prize are the representatives of the competition’s activities in various countries around the world. They collaborate as enthusiasts and art lovers, sensitive and attentive to cultural exchanges, to the dissemination of opportunities for artists in order to enhance art and international culture.

Anna Shvets is an art manager, an expert on trends in the world of art and CEO at TAtchers’ ART Management. She believes that art can be a unique language that unites countries and continents, culture and science. Being an internationally recognised arts manager she actively cooperates with leading art institutions, works as coach and consultant for artists, interested in international developement and promotion. She regularly contributes writing to art and business magazines. As an art educator, she gives online and offline lectures and talks in Europe and Americas. Her art research spans widely across contemporary art theory, a collaboration of art, science, business and new technologies, and focuses on the interaction of art and environmental humanities in exceptional places of our planet. Geography of her projects extends from Europe to South America, from Middle East to Asia, from Antarctica to Galapagos islands. For many years Anna represents Arte Laguna Prize in Russia and CIS.

ceo@tatchers.art | www.tatchers.art | IG: @tatchersartmanagement

He is the most influential curator and ambassador of the international cultural exchange in the field of contemporary art in Algeria. Mohamed Benhadj has been the unique icon of performance art in the Algerian art scene, known with his audacious and avant-garde movement. He emerged possibilities of change and growth for Algerian and international artists by strengthening the importance of exchange and art promotion. His vision of a connected world through bridges of possibilities and collaborations leads him to establish Al-Tiba9 in 2013, an international exhibition of contemporary art, performance, and fashion design, promoting the exchange between art institutions and artists gathering in a new Arab social-cultural environment. In 2017, Mohamed extended his philosophy to Barcelona, Spain. In 2019 he became a member of Algero-Espagnol cultural association. He collaborates with the Ministry of culture, museums, art institutions, embassies, and art centers. He aims to create a new pole of contemporary art in North Africa, offering to the world a unique experience of creativity, possibility, and growth like no other around the planet.

curator@altiba9.com | www.altiba9.com | IG: @altiba9 @mohamedbenhadjofficial

Elena Oranskaia – The Netherlands and Ukraine

The turbulent time in which we live and the challenges that are faced by modern civilization require reflection and innovative (possibly radical) solutions. The role of the designer, artist and philosopher is now more important than ever. Only a creative person can emotionally present the beauty of a floating world and stimulate movement towards improvement. The combination of traditions and innovations, the study of historical approaches and the exchange of ideas by people with different cultural backgrounds and mentalities give us a chance to preserve and improve our planet. These principles are guided by Elena Oranskaia in her work. For the past years, her foundation Art-East+Art-West had organized and overseen exhibitions of Dutch design and architecture in Moscow and exhibitions/events of exploring Ukrainian design at the Dutch Design Week and Fuori Saloni Milano.

oranskaia@gmail.com | +31 6 21806111

The artworks of Sarp Kerem Yavuz reclaim Orientalist imagery and bring the visual legacy of the Middle East into the present. Through photography, light projection, neon sculpture and digital drawing, he creatives visually provocative works of art in pursuit of peaceful coexistence. Born in Paris in 1991 and raised in Istanbul, his works explore gender, politics, religion, and violence. He is the recipient of several international accolades, including the 2019 Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellowship, the 2016 Palm Springs Photo Festival Emerging Photographer award, presented by Leica Camera, the 2013 New Artists Society Award from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the 2013 Leah Freed Memorial Prize. In 2013, he became the youngest artist to exhibit and be included in the permanent collection of the Istanbul Modern Museum. His artworks are published in Turkey: Istanbul CODEX, and the Boys! book benefitting the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

sarpyavuz@gmail.com | sarp.info

Engineer, with a wide experience as Program Manager and Strategic Consultant, Raffaella Gallo has been nurturing her passion for art since an early age, starting her own collection at 16. After moving to China in 2009, Raffaella had the opportunity to apply her rigorous approach to the art sector and to open a new chapter in her studies, focusing on Chinese contemporary art. In 2012, she founded ARTCaffè, a new concept of meeting, aiming to create a multicultural platform and to activate debates among people who are not strictly involved into the art sector, but share a passion or even a mere curiosity for art. Each month, Raffaella’s living room becomes an arena in which guest artists give a talk to a multifaceted crowd, presenting career stories, work practices and sources of inspirations. It is a unique way for artists present their projects and directly connect to the audience, without filters, in an informal setting; for people to cultivate a passion; for cultures from all over the world to share their different points of view.

shanghai_artcaffe@libero.it | IG: @artcaffe_byraffaellagallo

Artistic Director of the Freies Tanz Ensemble- Berlin- Leipzig. In 2003 he won the German Dance Prize at the German Dance Platform. He gained important personal and artistic experience with the composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen for the Leipzig Opera House also in New York, where he worked with choreographer Roseanne Spradlin. Since 2006 he has been teaching and creating dance works for the Berlin-based Theater Thikwa and has directed the Company of Leipziger Tanztheater. Alessio is like a huge bridge between the analog past and the robotic digital future. Passionately believing into a non-dualistic minded body approach to all kinds of performative actions and gender issues, he has an open curiosity towards alterity of all kinds and aims at promoting, coaching and curating especially young artists and performers based in Germany to develop a stronger visibility. Alessio aims at focusing and centering the mysterious relationship and synergies between artists and their interlocutors, by revealing the unknown behind the exhibit and creating a crossroad-platforms for intercultural exchanges among artists, art operators and art viewers.

arclita@aol.com | FB: Alessio Trevisani

Born in 1976 in Argentina, Victor Alaluf, was interested in Art from an early age. He moved to Israel at the age of 19 and received his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Haifa. Today Victor lives and works in Berlin. His art is mainly Installation-Art, which combines drawings, sculpting, video art and other mediums. Victor’s years-long confrontation with illness and his experiences of leaving home at a young age are reflected in his work. Recurring themes of Victor’s work have to do with issues of fragility and structure. Another aspect of Victor’s work has to do with collecting discarded objects and giving them a new life. This reflects Victor’s focus on issues of past and future and the relation of these notions to the question of identity and home. Other projects express an attempt to bring to awareness and call for reflection on our current social structure and moral values, which constitute the connecting threads of humanity.

vicalaluf@hotmail.com | IG: @alalufvictor

Sanjana Shah comes from an Indian Art and Real Estate background. She has recently graduated with a dual degree of BA in English Literature and the WPP Communications work-study program from the Parsons – Indian School of Design & Innovation, Mumbai. She has now taken over her family’s art gallery business, Tao Art Gallery, which is an established cultural hub of Indian art in Mumbai, as the Creative Director. As part of this role she co-curates exhibitions, writes concept notes, ideates on new potential collaborations and manages the gallery’s brand image and sales. She has also completed a summer course at Christies London titled, Human Creativity Across Time & Space in 2017 and two at Sotheby’s, Foundations in Contemporary Art in 2018, and Introduction to Curating in 2019. Alongside her work, she is also a passionate writer with her own Reflections and Art blog titled “The Little Brown Eyes“

sanjana@taoartgallery.com | taoartgallery.com | IG: @sanjanashah30 @taoartgallery

Nevena was born in 1989 in Užice (Serbia), where she finished High School of Art (2007), as a fashion modelist. After two years of studies of History of Art (Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade), she continued her artistic education at the Academy of Orthodox Church Arts, in Belgrade, where she graduated as BA in fresco painting, 2015. The following year, on the same faculty, she finished her Master studies, as MA.
Starting from 2004, she’s active in many group and solo projects (fresco and icon paintings in Serbia and abroad), and she exhibited in around thirty group and solo exhibitions in Balkan and Europe, from which the most significant ones are two finals in Arte Laguna Prize (13th and 14th edition), the international contest of art in miniature, MajdanArt (Majdanpek, Serbia) where her drawing is the winning one in the category in two-dimensional works. Her participation in 13th edition of Arte Laguna Prize has been noticed by Biafarin that awarded her two works.
With her work Nevena is building a connection between what happened and what is yet to come, therefore, she strongly believes in the power of art to overcome any logical distance or barrier.
Today she lives and works in Carpi, Italy.

nevenaivanovic@hotmail.rs | IG: @nevenaig

Gabriela Davies, born in Rio de Janeiro (1993) is the curator and director for Galeria Aymoré, in Rio de Janeiro. A not-for-profit institution focussed in showcasing Brazilian contemporary art. Gabriela focuses on young and established contemporary artists with a focus in Brazil, yet with a global perspective derived from her studies in London. After her degree in curatorial studies at Central Saint Martins, UAL, UK, she headed for a Master of Art degree in History of Art at University College London, UK. The clash between a social communal identity and the visual arts tend to be an opening door for her interests. Displacement, the search of identity and the history of the colour pink are her main areas of research.

gabi@galeriaaymore.com | IG: @gabrieladavies_

Kim Siew is an artist, founder and director of Lakaz d’Art, a Mauritian creative platform. He has developed a strong network of Mauritian emerging talents as well as African artists across the continent. His innovative platform, collaborates with local businesses to translate branding and company culture into artworks. A pacerel that stimulates the art sector while connecting artists with businesses. With a Bachelor in economics and Arts history, he strongly believes that Art and creativity can build solutions of the future and foster personal growth. As a wish to strengthen the importance of Art in our society, he regularly designs and facilitates workshops with artists to diffuse creative knowledge and to develop creative confidence. With Africa in full effervescents, African actors like himself need to build a stronger international presence in the Art world.

kim@lakazart.com | FB: Lakaz d’Art | IG: @lakazart