Alessandra Ferrini wins the MAXXI BVLGARI PRIZE 2022

Alessandra Ferrini (Florence, 1984), with the work Gaddafi in Rome: Notes for a Film, wins the third edition of the MAXXI BVLGARI PRIZE, the project that brings together MAXXI—National Museum of XXI century arts and Bvlgari—a maison that has been an emblem of Italian excellence for over 130 years—in the support and promotion of young artists. The work will become part of the MAXXI Collection. Silvia Rosi (Scandiano—RE, Italy, 1992) wins the Audience Award with Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense. Both works will be acquired by the Museum and become part of the MAXXI Collection.

The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, October 25 at 7pm, in MAXXI’s Auditorium and was attended by Jean-Christophe Babin, Bvlgari CEO, Giovanna Melandri, Fondazione MAXXI President, Hou Hanru, MAXXI Artistic Director, Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, MAXXI Arte Director, and juror Dirk Snauwaert, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre Director. The international jury—including Hoor Al Qasimi, Sharjah Art Foundation President and Director, Chiara Parisi, Pompidou-Metz Director, Dirk Snauwaert, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre Director, Hou Hanru and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi—chose Gaddafi in Rome: Notes for a Film by Alessandra Ferrini “for its ability to represent the controversial facts of contemporary geo-political history, challenging the official and canonized formulas of historical and journalistic narratives. In particular, for the strength and balance in analyzing documentary materials such as photographs, texts, and films, recomposing them into a new narrative that reflects on the role of research as essential in defence of human rights and global citizenship in the post-colonial age.”

For its ability to address themes such as provenance, descent and memory in a contemporary perspective between lyricism and irony, the Audience Award goes to Silvia Rosi, whose work Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense received over 55% of the votes.

Giovanna Melandri, Fondazione MAXXI President, said: “Congratulations to the three finalists who were chosen by the International jury for their ability to express through aesthetic diversity and experimentation the urgency of imagining a different future. And congratulations to the two winners Alessandra Ferrini and Silvia Rosi. The Prize unites the National Museum of Contemporary Arts with a world-renowned excellence for the Made in Italy like Bulgari. Thanks to this consolidated and strategic collaboration, the Prize has grown and strengthened over the years, increasingly resembling great international prizes such as the Turner Prize in the United Kingdom and the Duchamp Prize in France. The MAXXI BVLGARI Prize is an important opportunity for artists to show their talent and for the public to discover it. It prompts us all to reflect through the Arts that kindle our critical thinking and speak to us of freedom, of memory, of richness in diversity, and of the necessary respect for Nature and Humanity. Arts that speak to us of the path to embark on.”

Jean-Christophe Babin, Bvlgari CEO, said: “This third edition confirms the role of the MAXXI BVLGARI PRIZE as a moment of primary importance in the Italian and International art scene. The exhibition and the Prize give visibility to the ideas of young artists whose poetics invite us to go beyond the boundaries of our personal vision of the world in order to reflect on notions such as identity and belonging. Their works prompts us to confront ourselves with change, but also to govern it according to a shared value system.”