Arte Laguna Prize – Celebrating 20 years of Contemporary Art
Venice, September 2025 – Arte Laguna Prize reaches a new milestone in 2025, celebrating 20 years of activity dedicated to Contemporary Art, once again confirming itself as a point of reference for all emerging artists.
Arte Laguna Prize is the international contemporary art competition that welcomes and exhibits emerging artists of all ages, countries, genres, and artistic backgrounds, without thematic restrictions. Through an ever-expanding network, it offers numerous opportunities to expand one’s network, gain global visibility, and access resources for professional development.
The twentieth edition opened its doors with the annual Open Call, inviting artists from around the world to participate in its now internationally recognized history. The goal is to give increasing voice, visibility, and recognition to the selected artists who will exhibit in November 2026 in the spaces of the North Arsenal in Venice, a home to Arte Laguna.
The application offers complete freedom of expression, with no specific themes and 10 artistic categories in which to submit works, which will be evaluated and selected by a newly created jury. For the 20th edition: Anastasia Dawson, Dubai: Independent Curator and Art Advisor; Jemima Kulumba, Belgium: Co-founder of the Biennale of Women In Art (WIA), Independent Curator and Art Advisor; marionanni, Italy: Designer, winner of the Compasso D’Oro 2024 and founder of marionanni Studio with the Museo Virgola in Bologna; Kostas Stasinopoulos, United Kingdom: Curator at the Serpentine Gallery in London and writer; Emiliano Valdes, Guatemala: Independent Curator and Strategic Art Advisor; Michal Novotný, Czech Republic: Director of the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery in Prague and Commissioner of the Czech Republic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; Xiaoyu Weng, New York and Toronto, curator and head of modern and contemporary art at the Art Gallery of Ontario and member of the Artistic Committee for Documenta 16.
In addition to the three-week exhibition, the Special Prizes are also opening—15 in 2025—founded in collaboration with Italian and international businesses and cultural institutions that have chosen to support the mission of the competition and the MoCA Association by offering exclusive opportunities. From Brazil to China, passing through the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Mozambique, and many others, each artist has the opportunity to join a network to launch their artistic career.
Artist Residencies: MoCA (Venice, Italy), BigCi (Bilpin, Australia), Artorale (Remscheid Lennep, Germany), Litix (Carrara, Italy), NY20+ (Shanghai, China);
Business for Art: La Ghisolana (Treviso, Italy) and Ventana (California, USA);
Art Galleries: Al-Tiba9 (Barcelona, Spain), Ziegler Gallery (Zurich, Switzerland);
Art Festivals: Venice Design Week (Venice, Italy), Akneye (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), MAMAM Museum (Recife, Brazil).
With a particular focus on Sustainability and Solidarity, Arte Laguna Prize reconfirms its attention to the theme in 2025, establishing prizes with: Il Cerchio (Venice, Italy), Asem Italia (Vilankulo, Mozambique) and the renewed collaboration with the aluminum recycling consortium, CiAl (Milan, Italy).
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the competition, Arte Laguna Prize is creating a Hall of Fame, dedicated to the winners or finalists of all editions of the Arte Laguna Prize who have grown, evolved, changed, experienced and reached particular levels, been recognized, awarded, or simply feel satisfied.
To reaffirm the international nature of the Arte Laguna Prize and its success in various countries around the world, this year’s twentieth edition will also be celebrated in Shanghai, China, with a dedicated selection of over 100 works that recount the competition’s twenty-year history through an exclusive group exhibition to be held from November 1st to December 15th, 2025.
Applications are unrestricted and open to all artists.
The deadline is September 10, 2025.
More info
info@artelagunaprize.com
Tel +39 347 2790099
artelagunaprize.com
Communication Kit
Photo Credit: @Dario Beltrami