COMBAT PRIZE AWARD – 17th edition

The 17th edition of the Premio Combat opens. It will run until August 2, 2026 at the Museum of the City of Livorno, which will host the final exhibition of the eighty artists selected from the international competition dedicated to contemporary art.

Organized by the cultural association Blob ART ETS with the support of the City of Livorno, the Tuscany Region, and the Livorno Foundation, the Premio Combat confirms itself as one of the longest-running and most recognized events dedicated to promoting contemporary artistic research.

The 2026 edition received over a thousand applications from Italy and abroad, confirming the international nature of the award and its ability to intercept practices and languages in continuous evolution. The eighty finalist works, selected by a jury of curators, museum directors, and industry professionals, offer a wide and articulated view of contemporary research trends.

Painting, photography, graphics, sculpture, installation, and video art interact in an exhibition path that relates heterogeneous research by origin, language, and approach. The exhibited works address themes ranging from the intimate to the social dimension, shaping narratives, visions, and questions capable of reflecting the multiple tensions of our time.

What characterizes this edition is above all the ability of the works to open up different readings of the present, bringing out sensitivities, urgencies, and imaginaries that permeate contemporary artistic research. The path alternates between intimate gazes and collective perspectives, everyday images and broader reflections on the ways we interpret, inhabit, and represent the world. Traditional techniques and experimentation intertwine in a panorama that reflects the complexity of current artistic production without following single trends or dominant languages.

Since its inception, the Premio Combat stands out for its ability to embrace different languages and paths, placing the quality of research at the center and offering artists a space for open discussion independent of market dynamics. In this sense, the exhibition becomes a privileged observatory on contemporaneity, able to accommodate different sensitivities, visions, and paths.

The jury of the 17th edition is composed of Andrea Bruciati, Ángel Moya García, Davide Ferri, Francesca Baboni, Ilaria Gianni, Lorenzo Balbi, Lorenzo Bruni, and Stefano Taddei.

During the opening ceremony, the winning work of the Special Prize The Place 2026 will also be presented, promoted by the marketplace The Place in collaboration with the association Ultracontemporary Art Project APS (U-ART-P APS). The award was given to Andrea Valsecchi (Milan, 1992) for the engraving The last memory, maybe it was a dream (2026), created at the Petronilla intaglio studio. The work will be displayed within the path of the 17th edition of the Premio Combat.

The final award ceremony of the 17th edition of the Premio Combat will take place on Sunday, August 2, 2026 at the Museum of the City of Livorno. On this occasion, the Premio Combat, the prizes of the individual sections, and other special awards promoted by the project partners will be announced and awarded.

As part of the Effetto Venezia 2026 program, the Premio Combat will take place this year in conjunction with the first edition of the Livorno Art Book Fair, a new event dedicated to independent publishing, artist books, photography, zines, and self-productions.

The coincidence between the award and the two events marks the beginning of a new season for contemporary art in Livorno, bringing together artistic practices, independent publishing, visual culture, and new forms of cultural production. A dialogue that strengthens the city’s role as a space open to discussion, research, and experimentation, enhancing the Museum of the City as a meeting place for different languages, experiences, and audiences.

The Finalists

Painting Section

Alice Moschetta, Josefina Ayllon, Alessandro Cito, Claudia Aschieri, Marco Crispano, Dario Wela, Luigi Di Fabio, Carlo Galofaro, Giulia Spugnoli, Luca Guidotti, Andrea Loi, Luca Balottin, Simona Mastropietro, Simone Miccichè, Michela Milani, Nicola Barth, Anastasia Norenko, Alessia Offidani, Diego Randazzo, Francesco Ronchi, Marco Sandreschi, Giuseppe Sciortino, Sergio Gagliardo, Lena Shaposhnikova, Signorino Pale, Sofie Tobiasova, Tonino Lacertosa, Tomás Toste, Sofia Villa, Meng Zhang

Graphics/Drawing Section

Luca Biffi, Ombretta Gamberale, Silvia Mantellini Faieta, Maria Marinelli, Mauro Valsecchi, David Michel Fayek, Pier Lorenzo Pisano, Pietro Ruisi, Aleksandra Trajkovic, Zhiyu Liu

Photography Section

Agnese Oprandi, Angelica Porrari, Nadal Antelmo, Andrea Di Lorenzo, Francesca Macis, Giacomo Mallardo, Tunahan Havrandere, Gevis Lekiqi, Francesca Maroni, Alberto Messina, Lorenzo Mini, Susanna Fiona Murray, Riccardo Pallini, Mauro Pinotti, Patrizia Posillipo, Salvatore Sparavigna, Sofia Samar, Sebastiano Branca, Luca Sereni, Sara Vighi

Sculpture/Installation Section

Alice Ahad, Serena Ciccone, Diego Azzola, Davide Fontana, Gonfio, Luca Gerry Conte, Chiara Niccoli, Marika Ricchi, Caterina Roppo, Tommaso Silvestroni

Video/Performance Section

Lorenzo Buongiovanni, Marco Calabrese, Paola Cenati, Anouk Chambaz, Rosa Lacavalla, Jiaye Liu, Rac Montoro, Mehrnoosh Roshanaei, Tommaso Buldini, Chiara Ventura

The Prizes

€10,000 (ten thousand) winner COMBAT PRIZE

Section Prizes:

€1,500 (one thousand five hundred) to the winner of the Painting section*

€1,500 (one thousand five hundred) to the winner of the Sculpture and Installation section*

€1,500 (one thousand five hundred) to the winner of the Photography section*

€1,500 (one thousand five hundred) to the winner of the Graphics section*

€1,500 (one thousand five hundred) to the winner of the Video – Performance art section*

*(the winning work will remain the property of the artist)

The jury: Andrea Bruciati (independent curator), Angel Moya Garcia (co-director of visual arts at Dello Scompiglio), Davide Ferri (director of Arte Fiera Bologna), Francesca Baboni (independent curator), Ilaria Gianni (independent curator), Lorenzo Balbi (director of Musei Civici di Verona), Lorenzo Bruni (director of The Others Art Fair, Turin), and Stefano Taddei (independent curator).

Gallery Prize – Realization of a personal or group exhibition in the 2026-2027 exhibition season.

The Special Prizes are carried out in collaboration with four galleries, a foundation, and an independent space:

At Pick Gallery (Turin)
Candy Snake Gallery (Milan)
Labs Contemporary Art (Bologna)
Mondoromulo arte contemporanea (Castelvenere, Benevento)
The Bank ETS Foundation – Institute for Studies on Contemporary Painting (Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza)
SAC – Contemporary Art Space (Livorno)

Poliart Special Prize* – The company, a leader in expanded polystyrene processing, will award an artist selected from the finalists, supporting the production of a work.

Special Prize The Place* – Promoted by the marketplace The Place together with the association Ultracontemporary Art Project aps (U-ART-P aps). The prize includes the creation, at the Petronilla Intaglio studio in June 2026, of an intaglio engraving in 12 copies plus 2 P.A. of an art print.

Special Prize PrintLitoArt* – Promoted by PrintLitoArt, an Italian industrial workshop specializing in certified art lithographs. The prize includes the creation, at the workshop, of a lithographic edition in 30 numbered and embossed copies.