COMEL Award 2026: Aluminium Future Intertwinings

COMEL Award Vanna Migliorin Contemporary Art

 “Alluminium, Future Intertwining”

13th edition

Applications open until 21 June 2026

“Beauty will save the world.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869)

The 13th edition of the COMEL Award, the international competition that promotes the use of aluminium in contemporary artistic practice, is now underway. The theme chosen for 2026, ‘Aluminium. Future Intertwinings’, invites artists to reflect on how tomorrow is shaped through connections, relationships, and the crossing of experiences.

This edition reaches a symbolic milestone: the number 13, an identifying figure for the COMEL Award. It is the atomic number of aluminium, the number of finalist works selected each year, and now the number of this thirteenth edition. A number that embodies the journey accomplished so far and renews its meaning, marking a new stage in the Award’s evolution. Over the years, aluminium has been explored in its many expressive possibilities, shifting from an everyday material into a language of contemporary art, in a constant dialogue between matter, research, and vision.

Intertwining is both a concrete gesture and a metaphor: an intertwining of materials, languages, cultures; of tradition and innovation, memory and vision, present and future possibilities. In an era marked by rapid and sometimes destabilising transformations, the future is not a distant, undefined point but a weave that takes shape day after day through choices, encounters, and contaminations.

Within this scenario, aluminium emerges as a symbol of transformation and connection. Already a symbol of modernity for the avant-gardes of the twentieth century, today it confirms itself as a material capable of uniting technology and imagination. A metal that can be bent, intertwined, reflected, layered—capable of embodying the very idea of a future in the making.

With “Future Intertwinings,” artists are invited to engage with this relational dimension: to narrate transformations, dialogues, unexpected possibilities; to imagine the future as a space of shared growth rather than an uncertain horizon.

The call is open until 21 June 2026 and is addressed to adult artists living or working in European countries. Eligible works include painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, provided that aluminium is a fundamental material, essential to the construction of both form and meaning.

A jury of experts chaired by Prof. Giorgio Agnisola will select 13 finalist works—reflecting the atomic number of aluminium and the number of this edition—which will be exhibited at Spazio COMEL in Latina from 17 October to 7 November 2026. Among these, the Critics’ Award and the Audience Award will be assigned.

Participation is free of charge and must be completed online at www.premiocomel.it by 21 June.