The first “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award” dedicated to Italian artists “under 40”

Franciacorta is one of the most prestigious brands, a leader of the Italian wine Renaissance and a strong advocate of uniting wine, art and territory. Now, Franciacorta has also organized, in partnership with Venetian Heritage, the first sculpture competition dedicated to young Italian artists “under 40”, titled “Ca’del Bosco” Sculpture Award”, which will be assigned every two years. The first award ceremony will take place in Venice in the spring of 2024 (during the 60th Art Biennale), and the winning work of art will be placed in the Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Park in autumn 2024. This initiative is actually the continuation of the path Ca’ del Bosco started in the 1980s, thanks to which it has become an open-air art gallery, enhancing and beautifying the territory. The sculptures on display are signed by internationally renowned names, such as Arnaldo Pomodoro, Igor Mitoraj, Mimmo Paladino, Cracking Art, Stefano Bombardieri, and many others as well, who have become its hallmark making it a unique place in the world.
“Even at the beginning, when Ca’ del Bosco was founded, we realized that the creative characteristics in art are closest to wine, which is its product”, Maurizio Zanella, president of Ca’ del Bosco, stated, “and, among the various forms of art, my preference has always been sculpture, because just like wine is in the vineyards, each sculpture is in the block of the medium from which it is created. Now, more than 50 years after Ca' del Bosco was founded, and almost 40 years after our first conversation with Arnaldo Pomodoro about creating the Solar Gate, I have decided to establish an award dedicated to outdoor sculpture and reserved for Italian artists up to the age of 40, as I firmly believe in the new generation’s imaginative capacity. Furthermore, I have decided to share this commitment with Venetian Heritage because the work that the Foundation and its director Toto Bergamo Rossi, who has also coordinated this project, carry out on Venetian artistic and cultural heritage is motivated by the same goals that guide the Ca' del Bosco patronage, which is a Renaissance that builds our future culture through the avant-garde intuitions of the new generations participating in this project”.
The competition is divided into various stages. First, from May 21, 2023 to June 15, 2023 the jury will identify the artists, and then Ca’ del Bosco will invite them to the competition. In May 2024 (indicatively), the first three classified will receive the awards. Finally, the winning work of art will be inaugurated in October 2024 (indicatively). The “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award” prizes are quite substantial. The first place winner will receive 30.000 euros, plus another 60.000 euros to cover the costs of materials, construction and installation of the work of art. The second place winner will receive 15.000 euros and 10.000 euros will go to the third place winner. The prestigious jury that has been selected, is called to identify the participants, the finalists and the first 3 classified. The jury will be composed of 7 art critics and collectors, and includes, in addition to the president, Toto Bergamo Rossi, also Mario Codognato (Director of the Anish Kapoor Foundation in Venice), Davide Dotti (art critic and curator of Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia), Arturo Galansino (Director of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation in Florence), Pepi Marchetti Franchi (Director of the Gagosian Gallery in Rome), Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (president of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin) and Maria Luisa Frisa (fashion theorist, curator and full professor at the IUAV University in Venice). The competition is by invitation of the jury and is aimed at all Italian sculptors or artists between the ages of 25 and 40, residing in Italy. The requisites for the artists include having participated, during their career, in minimum 2 group exhibitions and one individual exhibition, at least Nationally, or boast a minimum of 2 sector publications or a monograph on their work (at least National publications/monograph). The artists selected by the jury will then access the second phase of the competition, dedicated to creating a maquette (a scale model) of the winning candidate’s work. Each of the selected artists will be invited to Ca' del Bosco to be inspected, upon which they will proceed to creating the maquette. The maquette will be exhibited to the public for the award ceremony, at which the winning artist as well as the second and third prize winners will be proclaimed. Toto (Francesco) Bergamo Rossi, Director of Venetian Heritage, stated, “it is an honor for me and for the Foundation I represent to be partners of the newly established Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award. Venetian Heritage preserves, restores and promotes the immense Venetian cultural heritage that needs continuous care and attention. Our partnership with Ca’ del Bosco represents something new, and that is, from restoring the past to build the future, to building a newly imagined future that is still based on wisdom, research and tradition”.