The jury of the second edition of International Award “Giovan Battista Calapai and Theodora van Mierlo Benedetti” – composed by Lorenzo Benedetti – Curator and art historian, Giuseppe Capparelli – Curator and Historian of‘art, Luca Centola – Artist,Mario De Candia – Journalist and Curator, Fabio De Chirico – Director of Service II Contemporary Art and Service V Photography of the General Directorate of Creativityto contemporary of the Ministry of Culture, Gianfranco Grosso – Artist, Francesco Nucci – President of the VOLUME! Foundation, David Sebastian – Artist, Simona Spinella – Curator and art historian, Delphine Valli – Artist, and coordinated by Roberta Melasecca – Architect and Curator and fromStefania Calapai – President Angelo Azzurro, after careful evaluations of 192 nominations presented by artists under 35he designated three winners.
The “AwardGiovan Battista Calapai”, having a net value of €1300.00 and inclusive of one publication A-HEAD Editions was assigned to ANDREAS ZAMPELLA.
There “Special mentionTheodora van Mierlo Benedetti” of the net value of €900.00 and inclusive of one publication A-HEAD Editions was assigned to LAUREL HAUGE.
The “Piero Gagliardi Award” of the net value of €700.00 and inclusive of one publication A-HEAD Editionswas assigned to EDSON LULI.
The awards ceremony will take place in Rome at Palazzo Valentini on a date that will be announced soon. The winning artists will also receive, as a gift, three works by Leandro Lottici.
The International Award “Giovan Battista Calapai and Theodora van Mierlo Benedetti”dedicated to the artistic research of artists under 35, is promoted by A-HEAD Project – Angelo Azzurro ONLUS and dedicated to the memory of Giovan Battista Calapai And Theodora van Mierlo Benedetti, two central figures who contributed significantly to the connection between the non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against the stigma of mental disorders and the art sector, with the subsequent birth of the A-HEAD project. In fact, Angelo Azzurro, through the aforementioned project, promotes contemporary art by developing a hermeneutic and cognitive path of mental illnesses by supporting artistic research in all its forms. This year the initiative includes not only the AwardGiovan Battista Calapai and the Mention Theodora van Mierlo Benedetti, but also the Piero Gagliardi Award to thank the curator of A-HEAD for the commendable work of these years.
The A-HEAD project was born in 2017 at the behest of the Calapai family to fight the stigma of mental disorders and from the collaboration between the Angelo Azzurro ONLUS Association and international artists and DJs: in fact with the A-HEAD Angelo Azzurro project, curated by Piero Gagliardi since 2017 , aims to develop a hermeneutic and cognitive path of mental illnesses through art, actively supporting contemporary art and the artists who collaborate in the various workshops that the association has been carrying out for years alongside the more traditional psychotherapy activities. Given the beneficial nature of the project, with A-HEAD culture, in the broadest sense of the term, becomes a driving force for generating healthcare, to the extent that the proceeds are donated to rehabilitation projects of the non-profit organization Angelo Azzurro, linked to creativity , understood as a purely human characteristic, fundamental for the development of a healthy interiority. The overall aim of the project is to help young people who have gone through a period of difficulty to fully reintegrate into society, through the development of new working and creative skills.