Museion is delighted to announce that the artist Isabella Costabile is the winner of the first Museion Private Founders Award, assigned on the occasion of the exhibition RENAISSANCE. The prize is in addition to the VG Award, assigned to the artist Monia Ben Hamouda at the opening of the exhibition, and the Audience Award, which will be presented next August.
With this award the Museion Private Founders, private supporters of the Fondazione and passionate advocates of contemporary art, confirm their commitment to supporting young talent and undertake to purchase the artist’s work entitled Thought Converter (2022-2023), which will become part of the museum’s collection.
The Museion Private Founders Award stems from a desire to support young artists at the start of their careers in their research and artistic practice. The award involves the acquisition of one or more works or financial support, thanks to a cash prize that will be awarded annually.
The jury for 2024, consisting of Paolo Ferretti, collector and entrepreneur, Patrizia Spadafora, collector and entrepreneur, and Eva von Ingram Harpf, curator and collector, voted to award the prize to Isabella Costabile (1991, New York, USA) for the work Thought Converter (2022-2023):
“The artist’s work, made up of enigmatic and at the same time very evocative sculptural compositions, surprised us with its ability to give new life and value to abandoned everyday objects, with a marked professionalism in its execution, creating modern ready-mades or a new version of Arte Povera, close to the contemporary theme of sustainability. Costabile’s compositions speak of a poetic and metaphysical way of conceiving matter - found, recovered and reassembled - giving a new voice and almost a soul to these timeless totems. Thus, a lampshade becomes a receiver of thoughts and an old trolley becomes an object of gentrification of spiders, in a regenerative perspective proper to the RENAISSANCE exhibition. We were struck by the story hidden within each piece and the loving gaze that breathed life and potential back into it.”
The Museion Private Founders’ Board of Directors was also reformed on 15 April, and is now composed of: Federico Giudiceandrea (President, entrepreneur and collector), Eva von Ingram Harpf (Vice President and curator); Maria Niederstätter (entrepreneur); Traudi Messini (TV journalist and author); Franz Staffler (entrepreneur and collector); Patrizia Spadafora (collector and entrepreneur); Ivan Rampelotto (lawyer).