Campania has a record number of entries. According to the first “exit polls” by Terna, out of 270 competing artists at the Terna Prize 02, 19% of the surveyed sample actually come from this region, followed by Lazio (14%), Puglia and Lombardy (ex aequo, 8%). We had already figured out last year that the artistic vein was from Campania; it is no coincidence that two of the Terna Prize 01 winners, Gigawatt winner Raffaella Mariniello and Megawatt winner Riccardo Albanese, came from Campania, specifically from Naples and Salerno. It is also surprising that Emilia Romagna, a land of talents where Luigi Ontani was born, one of our most popular and appreciated artists who won the 2008 edition besides being a member of the jury at the Terna Prize 02, has no representatives yet. Meanwhile artists from Val d’Aosta (0%) , Basilicata and Umbria (1%) appear to be still behind. But the real news this year is the participation of artists from New York, many of them from the popular and lively Brooklyn neighbourhood, who are coming into the limelight of the Terna Prize with forcefulness. They will be next to artists who, born abroad but living in Italy (a total of 10%), continue to represent the melting-pot generation of the contest. Significant is the presence of foreign artists who are active in Italy: from Stuttgart to Tirana , from Berlin to Tripoli, going through Bludenz and Basel, from Buenos Aires to Bratislava, from Tunis to Haifa. A tour around the world through contemporary art.
2009-07-20
