Grand opening last night at the Rome Maxxi. The absolute protagonists at the National Museum of the Arts of the 21st century were the fourteen winners of the Terna Prize 02. The contest, aimed at promoting contemporary artists and art through an innovative formula based on synergy between business and culture witnessed this year the participation of 3526 artists, 45 of which masters of Italian contemporary art, confirming itself once again a leading event in contemporary art. The awards ceremony saw the artists very excited as in the greatest occasions and was introduced by Terna’s Chairman Luigi Roth. “The most important aspect of this prize is to give young artists an opportunity,” explained last night Flavio Cattaneo Terna’s CEO. “The winners of the prize’s first edition, he added, exhibited their artworks in Rome and New York and we are already working to continue the internationalization project also for next year’s edition”.
This project, that has been growing in numbers and consensus, was also praised by the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities Sandro Bondi who last night from the Maxxi’s futuristic stage installed for the occasion, wished to personally award the winners of the prize’s second edition. “I would like to express my appreciation to a company like Terna – explained the Minister- among the few companies in our country that believes in culture. A special thanks to Flavio Cattaneo for having had the intuition of taking a chance in supporting contemporary art. In the past few decades, we have rightfully invested much of our energy for protecting our artistic heritage, but little has been done for cultural figures of our times. A country like ours not only has the duty to transmit to future generations its cultural heritage, but also the obligation of supporting contemporary artists”.
The event was attended also by the director of development at the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, Mario Resca. “Personal growth occurs through the knowledge of what is beautiful, he explained, this is why it is important to promote initiatives like this one designed and created for young people”. An exceptional public for an evening devoted to contemporary art in the Museum that represents its epitome starting from the monumental architectural structure designed by the architect Zaha Hadid. Collectors and gallery directors that came from all over Italy included the Director of Cultural Policies Umberto Croppi, the President of the Maxxi Foundation Pio Baldi, the patron of the arts from Turin Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and the art critic Francesco Bonami. Also present: Luigi Ontani, the winning artist of the Terna Prize 01 and Professor Christophe Girot Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, President of the Roma Foundation, the President of the Rome Quadriennale Gino Agnese and Carlo Massarini, Ines Musumeci Greco, Marion Franchetti.
On the stage, a succession of great names of contemporary art such as the Terawatt winner Alberto Garutti, awarded for the artwork "Temporali", the young 20 year old extremely talented American artist Meena Hasan, with Asian origins. For Garutti, the Terna Prize revealed “being an important initiative since, he explained, it gave me the opportunity to reflect not only on the existing connection between energy and mankind, but also to grasp new challenges and experience new stimuli”.
The Prize’s theme, “Energy: Mankind = Future: Environment” will also be the title of the exhibit curated by Cristiana Collu and Gianluca Marziani, that will be held from December 22 to January 15, 2009, at the Temple of Adrian in Rome. An exceptional location where the 14 winning artworks may be admired together with the 43 works of famous artists that also participated in the contest including: Simone Bergantini (Gigawatt) with the artwork “Work N.77”; Stefano Cagol (Megawatt), with the artwork “Dissoluzione di luce”; Francesco Simeti (Connectivity), with the artwork “Esercizio #2”, and Michele Manzini, winner of the Online Prize, with the artwork “Untitled # 87”. Also exhibited, Dino Pedriali, honorable mention among the Terawatt Category with the artwork “Miraggio” and the winners of the Gallery Directors Committee Prize Mauro Folci, for the Megawatt category, with the artwork “Noia” and Giulio Delvè for the Gigawatt category with the artwork “Brainstorm”. For the Gigawatt category: Stefano Canto with the artwork “Tao” and Alia Scalvini with the artwork “Crossing the field”; for the Megawatt category, Andrea Aquilanti with the artwork “Acqua” and Emanuele Becheri with the artwork “Temporale”; for the Connectivity category: Isola and Norzi with the artwork “Isolanorzi – fall” and Meena Hasan with the artwork “Landscape#1”.
2009-12-23
