COMEL Award Contemporary Art: Aluminium Bonds

The contemporary art COMEL award Vanna Migliorin, the international competition dedicated to the creative use of aluminium, is back for its VIII edition.

All artists 18 years old and above who live or work within European borders are called to challenge themselves each year with a theme related to the characteristics of this splendid and surprising metal, aiming to discover, or highlight, its expressive, aesthetic, communicative and constructive potentialities. This year's theme is Aluminium Bonds.

Aluminium has a natural tendency to join, connect and merge with other metals, in fact in nature it is never found free.

It is one of the few elements of the periodic table to be trivalent, meaning that, each of its atom uses three electrons to combine with other elements. This exquisitely chemical characteristic is easily reflected in the metaphorical and symbolic understanding of the concept of bond and translates into the positive values of openness, generosity, exchange and desire to create links with other people.

All concepts that are supported and conveyed by the COMEL Award which at each edition becomes an opportunity for artists from different countries to meet, and encourages the sharing and mutual enrichment of all participants.

Those values, this year, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, become even more important and deeply felt: bonds that remain strong despite the social distancing that we are required to maintain.  For this reason and in order to continue to look to the future with positivity, the organizers have decided to open the call even if there are still no certainties about the exit from the lockdown in almost all European countries. The intent is to open the registrations anyway, deadline is so far October 31st and hopefully the final exhibition will be held in the first months of next year.

Registration is free. Painting, sculpture, design, photography and installation artworks, using aluminium as their main element and respect the proposed theme, will be admitted. A jury of experts will choose 13 finalist works (13 such as the atomic number of aluminium), which will be exhibited at the Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea gallery in Latina. Among these, a winner will be selected who will receive a cash prize (3500 euros), and will be the protagonist of a solo show with a dedicated catalogue.

Deadlines of the exhibition and of the award ceremony will be communicated as soon as possible.