Biennale MArteLive in its First European Edition concludes with the announcement of the Winners of 16 Artistic Disciplines and establishes itself as the Only Multidisciplinary Festival in Europe!

Next MArteLive Biennial scheduled for October 11-20, 2024

Despite a global pandemic and a devastating war just a few kilometers from two of the project’s partner countries – Poland and Lithuania – the first European edition of the MArteLive Biennial finally comes to an end with the announcement of the winners in the 16 artistic disciplines in the competition. This concludes the long path of scouting and selection of the 16 best European emerging talents discovered out of over 1100 entries from 47 countries including 27 members of the European Union and 20 neighboring countries because art has no borders and barriers but is open to all. 

The MArteLive Biennial is officially over, but the activities will continue until mid-December, flowing into the MArteLive Plus Biennial, with the completion of the last street art works and a series of special concerts and performances.

Scheduled for 22 December 2022, the grand finale of this edition will be the inauguration of the wall work by the Dutch artist JDL on the great ‘Serpentone’ of Corviale, one of the largest works in Rome. JDL has always been committed to spreading social messages through street art, working on themes such as LGBTQIA+, racism and mental health, depicting them on the walls of the world with care and lyricism, thanks to his unmistakable stroke. 

For more than twenty years MArteLive has been offering the city of Rome and its public its contribution with a great quantity and variety of events and cultural initiatives, providing a showcase of excellence for thousands of artists and a lively and fervent space of cultural confrontation for the public, artists and insiders.

Since 2001 MArteLive has, in fact, been a great laboratory of experimentation and innovation, but with this edition it has marked a watershed from the past, projecting itself towards European affirmation and establishing itself, in its own right, as Europe’s only widespread multidisciplinary festival thanks to the more than 1,200 artists distributed in the 93 locations that hosted the approximately 160 events of various kinds that took place from October 3 to November 19 between previews, the actual event and special finissage events. “In Europe there are many diffuse festivals and many multidisciplinary festivals but no event that encompasses these two souls.

“MArteLive is the only festival in Europe that is both multidisciplinary and diffuse,” says creator Giuseppe Casa. In just a few days there were more than 360 different performances, including music, dance, street art, theater and performance ideally grouped into 13 special projects, real festivals within the Biennale.

In addition to hosting internationally renowned artists such as Múm, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Future Island, The Afghan Whigs, Altin Gün, Lambert and Niklas Paschburg, the MArteLive Biennial has left a further mark through 15 murales created by internationally renowned artists such as Jorit – who created a work at Quarticciolo dedicated to Marielle Franco within the special project –L’Arte non ha sbarre (Art Has No Bars) – as well as Etnik, Natalia Rak, NSN997 and many others who have created the latest works planned for this three-year period in the Settecamini neighborhood within the special project Street Art For Rights.

The grand finale of the MArteLive season will take place with the creation of the monumental work by the Dutch artist JDL (Judith de Leeuw) in Corviale, which will be inaugurated on December 22, 2022. The work will be created in one of the city’s symbolic walls, namely on one of the facades of the wall of the Corviale apartment building, the famous “Serpentone.” A pharaonic work-perhaps the largest in the city-and it will enjoy international visibility. No one has ever managed until now to create a work on the Corviale Serpentone, and it will be MArteLive with JDL that will succeed. The Dutch artist, who specializes in large surfaces and important walls, with an artistic identity recognized and recognizable all over the world-is a young and brilliant artist, active and known for her commitment to social issues and especially to women and the weakest. 

The theme for the Corviale wall is an image of a woman covered in oil, similar to the birds caught in oil in the sea due to pollution and man’s irresponsibility. On one side of the wall the woman will be portrayed struggling, on the other side she will find freedom, cleaning herself from the oil and flying. The image created by JDL is inspired by the myth of Icarus: metaphorically, the climate crisis seems comparable to the original meaning of the mythological tale. Modern society is on a fatal and self-destructive path, just as Icarus did to escape from the Minotaur’s labyrinth: heedless of his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too high, melting the wax that held his wings together and plunging into the sea.

This work will have a temporary duration of about two years, as the Palazzone is affected by the renovation activities of the PNRR; during this time, however, before it will be destroyed, it will be transformed into NFT, so that it can still continue to be visible and live online in the digital world of blockchain. Proceeds from the sale of the work will be donated to charity in the same neighborhood. The festival is shortlisted to win the title of Best Festival in Europe for European Festival Awards in the category ‘Best Small Festival’.

International Winners of MArteLive Europe

MArteLive is an international contest and festival supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe Program and implemented in collaboration with Tuzla Live (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Kintai Arts (Lithuania) and Artnova (Poland). MArteLive Europe is a unique event that celebrates Art, Music and Culture in all its forms with the goal of supporting emerging artists internationally. Through a jury of more than 200 cultural insiders and popular voting by the public, the winners of the first edition of MArteLive Europe represent a 360-degree overview of what is emerging within international contemporary art and culture.

The best artists were selected through 4 stages:

1. International scouting and first selection of material carried out by the artistic section managers of the associations in the partner countries: Artnova in Poland, Kintai Arts in Lithuania, Tuzla Live in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the coordination of Procult in Italy.

2. Online auditions of the three areas in which the countries involved were grouped. During the online auditions the best 480 artists in the 16 disciplines were evaluated through the quality jury and popular vote. Audience participation was important as witnessed also by the 3 online auditions and the final voting during and after the BiennaleMArteLive with the participation of more than 70,000 users throughout Europe.

3. The 144 semifinalists performed and exhibited their works during the European semifinals in Vilnius (Lithuania), Krasiczyn (Poland) and Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

4. On October 19 and 20, the final event was held in Rome with the 48 European finalists from which 16 winners were chosen.

Winners from Poland

For the MUSIC section the winner is Chrust (Krakow, Poland), a young folk musician who combines traditional Polish singing with rock drums and electronic soundtracks. 

For the VIDEO ART section, the winner is Svitlana Korovai (Warsaw, Poland) with “Forgotten,” an artist specializing in painting and documentaries. 

For the MUSIC VIDEO section the winner is Magdalena Zielinska (Warsaw, Poland) with “June”: a graduate of the University of the Arts in London, she is a director of short films and commercials, many of which have won awards at international festivals such as SXSW, Miami Short Film Festival, PL Music Video Awards, Bolton International Film Festival. 

For the SHORT FILM section, the winner is Eva Sztefka (Poznan, Poland) with “We can still be friends.” She is currently studying at the Poznan University of the Arts working mainly with digital animation and stop motion animation. Cinema is her main form of emotional expression.

Winners from Lithuania

For the LITERATURE section, the winner is Simonas Bernotas (Vilnius, Lithuania), a poet and translator. Many of his works have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies; his first book “Revivas” received the “Best Debut” award from the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania in 2019. For the DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION section, the winner is Greta Brat (Vilnius, Lithuania), a self-taught 3D artist, her research is based on exploring the boundaries that exist between fantasy and reality.

For the PHOTOGRAPHY section, the winner is Denis Vejas (Vilnius, Lithuania), a documentary photographer. Much of his work has been done in nomadic settings and social suburbs. 

For the ART section the winner is Diana Remeikytè (Vilnius, Lithuania): in her work, Diana researches the sense and meaning of home, relating it to her own experiences. For the STREET ART section, the winner is Linas KaziulionisK ART 7 (Vilnius, Lithuania): he has been active in the art world for more than seven years, participating in interdisciplinary and painting projects; he founded the public creative studio K ART 7 in Vilnius Old Town, where he continues his artistic work.

Winners from Belgium

For the DJ AND PRODUCER section, the winner is Aaeiyt (Eupen, Belgium), currently a student at the Academy of Fine Arts of Estonia. 

For the DANCE section, the winner is the Opinion Public company (Ixelles, Belgium): founded in Brussels in 2010, the Opinion Public contemporary dance company is composed of Etienne Béchard, Johann Clapson, Sidonie Fossé and Victor Launay; their choreographic work is based on neoclassical and contemporary techniques and is full of dynamism, rhythm and fluidity.

Winner from Austria

For the THEATER section, the winner is Iranian-born artist and performer Shahrzard Nazarpour (Vienna, Austria). In her work Nazarpour is challenging her own taboos and social values as a radical performance artist. She emigrated to Austria to continue her studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna soon after graduating with a degree in theater from the Tehran University of Art.

Winner from France

For the CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS section, the winner is Fleuriane (Grémévillers, France) who specializes in acrobatic cycling. After graduating, Fleuriane joined the CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) in Châlons-en-Champagne where he took courses with several cycling instructors. Thanks to these encounters, he has developed a real intimate relationship with his bicycle, and on stage he tries to build a poetic and sometimes unusual universe.

Winner from Malta

For the PAINTING AND DRAWING section, the winner is Claire (Attard, Malta), a young artist who recently completed her studies at the Malta Academy of Fine Arts.

Winner from Czech Republic

For the SCULPTURE section, the winner is Darina Molatova (Prague, Czech Republic): her work is inspired by everyday, neglected but indispensable things. Her sculptures are made from soft materials such as foam or wool but also traditional materials such as plaster, ceramics and concrete. Much of her work is about the human body, its possibilities of movement, its structure and surface.

Winner from United Kingdom

For the FASHION DESIGN section, the winner is Cosimo (London, UK), an Italian designer of Neapolitan origin with a long generation of tailors in his family behind him. He moved to London to pursue his studies at the Istituto Marangoni in London and began creating garments that resemble paintings where the fabric represents a canvas with which to express his art.

In the coming days, the 16 winners of the “twin” contest involving Italian artists will also be announced. For the first edition of MArteLive Europe, in fact, the two contests remained separate even though later at the final event in Rome a contact and artistic comparison was established.

For the 2023-2024 edition, the two contests will merge into one big European and international contest for emerging art in all its forms. 

The Call for artists will be officially launched on 15 January 2023 on the MArteLive website and social channels and it will be possible to register for a whole week free of charge.

www.BiennaleMArteLive.it

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