Held in the historic Arsenale Nord in Venice, the internationally renowned competition, Arte Laguna Prize, showcases works across disciplines, from painting to performance, sculpture to street art, photography to land art. Artists worldwide submit their works, which are meticulously reviewed by an esteemed panel of cultural leaders. The finalists’ works are celebrated in a breathtaking group exhibition, with one artist awarded a €10,000 prize for their exceptional contribution. Beyond the accolades, the prize opens doors to residencies, collaborations, and platforms that propel artistic careers.
As the Biennale comes to an end, the Arte Laguna Prize opens its doors. From 17 November to 8 December 2024, the exhibition of over 240 works took centre stage.
The Prize inherently celebrates emerging art; how it can affect, confront, critique and empower.
Co-curators of the 18th and 19th editions, Giulia Colletti and Chiara Canali, focussed on the use of technology as a creative tool. The love hate relationship of machines and human, fraught and fluid, arguably restrictive in its own, machinal output but rich in possibility and opportunity when combined with human creativity, craft and skill.
It’s a crisp late November morning in Venice. Duck egg blue skies and a lifting mist.
The city and the Arsenale are noticeably more subdued than the throngs of summer, an argument to come here in the cold months.
The building in the North Arsenale is vacuous, crumbling and cold.
Paintings hang on floating walls, carving channels in the spaces, while inflated textiles, draped metal and 3D printed ceramics drop from the ceiling, spill out of the floor and creep up the walls. You are met with a riotous cacophony of colour, material, textile and sound.
The winner of the 19th edition was Tanda Francis with her work ‘RockIt Black’. Her work stood monumental within the gallery, commanding and imposing. Tanda Francis is known for creating capturing public art that centres African features and symbolism, offering a powerful commentary on representation and history. ‘RockIt Black’ is built from the original plywood used to board up storefronts in New York City during the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising. Elements of the wood’s surface have been preserved, proudly bearing the mark of its history, the memory.
Balázs Hugyecsek’s piece ‘Push’ is playful in its first instance.
When the button on the ground is pressed, a giant red hand inflates in front of your face.
The action of pressing the button and inflating the hand force you to step back and get out of it’s way. If it is pressed again, the same thing happens. This action is self-extinguishing—it repeats itself but is ultimately limiting.
This concept resonates deeply in Eastern Europe, particularly with the image of the red hand. For 45 years under communism in Hungary, people felt powerless against a system that dictated their lives. The "redhand" symbolises the oppressive control over vital decisions, forcing a confrontation of the boundaries of freedom. Under such restrictions, fewer freedoms led to more existential questions: Who has the power to act? What actions are permitted? Is action meaningful, or does the act itself hold meaning?
Arte Laguna is a treasure trove, a wonderland, of relevant, socially embedded art.
A stage of world-renowned biennales in architecture and art, a perfect locality to look to our collective future through the fabric of the past.
It is an exhibition that feels inclusive, open, critical and beautifully curated. With free entry and an open theme, the exhibition of over 240 works is a coherent cross section of contemporary urgent thought. With clear focus on the climate crisis, on our relationship to the natural world and to each other, on transnational identity and on AI.
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