“ad occhi chiusi…” Prize

The 2025 “ad occhi chiusi…” Prize has been awarded to Caroline Cordeiro presented by Galatea, São Paulo and Salvador.

Born in 2021 from the collaboration between Artissima and Fondazione Merz, the prize is given to international artists present at the fair who best reflect the Foundation’s research activities on young Mediterranean art.

Jury: Beatrice Merz, President, Fondazione Merz, Torino; Marta Mestre, Curator, MAC/CCB, Lisbon; Giulia Turconi, Assistant Curator, Fondazione Merz, Torino; Antonia Scintilla, Director, Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris.

Their remarks: The jury decided to award Caroline Cordeiro (Belo Horizonte,Brazil,1983) because was enchanted by the formal rigor and poetic attitude of the work of artist and her commitment to reinterpreting the conceptual legacy, shifting it towards narrative meanings that involve colonial history. América do Sal is a site-specific installation, a proposition of an imaginary territory, with a strong emphasis on the use of simple materials. Carolina Cordeiro mentions spiritual practices as vehicles for personal and collective transformation. We hope that this award celebrates not only Cordeiro’s work but also the debut of the Brazilian gallery Galatea at the Artissima art fair.

The “ad occhi chiusi…” offers to the selected artist the possibility to take part in a residency in Sicily.

The winners of the past editions are: Monia Ben Hamouda, CherLüdde, Berlin (2024); Marwa Arsanios, mor charpentier, Parigi and Bogotà (2023); ex aequo Alex Ayed, ZERO… gallery, Milano, and Nona Inescu, SpazioA gallery, Pistoia (2022); Heba Y. Amin, Zilberman gallery, Istanbul and Berlino (2021).