Winners of Combat Prize 2026

With the announcement of the winners, the 17th edition of the Combat Prize came to a close on Sunday, 2 August. The international contemporary art competition, conceived by the cultural association Blob Art ETS, is organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Livorno, with the support of the Tuscany Region, the Fondazione Livorno, the publishing house Sillabe, and partner Opera Laboratori, as well as Poliart, a leading manufacturer of expanded polystyrene.

The jury—comprising Andrea Bruciati, Ángel Moya García, Davide Ferri, Francesca Baboni, Ilaria Gianni, Lorenzo Balbi, Lorenzo Bruni, and Stefano Taddei—awarded the Combat Prize, worth €10,000, to Marco Paleari for his work Torero spiaggiato (Best Life!). The jury praised the work for its interpretation of the powerful figure in Manet’s painting, bringing it into the present through a rich interplay of painterly languages and forms, ranging from the unfinished to areas where recurring motifs and patterns also reveal the abstract potential within representation. The image further possesses a subtly Pop atmosphere, opening the figure to a multiplicity of readings, tones, and nuances.

In the Painting category, the jury awarded the prize to Simone Miccichè for the work "corpo tessuto _ Egypt 1", with the following citation: “A humble fabric becomes a body through its painterly transposition. The work conveys the journeys and displacement of an Egyptian migrant through the weaving of an absence, in which the cloth is enriched by a concealed, barely perceptible imprint. Through a meticulous study of texture and weave, the artist defines an identity that all too often remains anonymous.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to Sergio Gagliardo.

In the Photography category, the jury awarded the prize to Tunahan Havrandere for the work "To Be Seen Is to Be Humiliated", recognizing the rigor of the artist’s research and the maturity of the visual language, with the following citation: “At the point where the gaze begins to falter, the work entrusts the margins with the possibility of a different form of presence. Without ever yielding to emphasis, it constructs a grammar of subtraction in which the smallest gesture becomes an experience of space and a measure of existence.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to Andrea Di Lorenzo.

In the Graphic Arts category, the jury awarded the prize to David Michel Fayek for the work "Inner Mental Space", with the following citation: “For his mastery of the toned cyanotype technique and his ability to expand its expressive possibilities beyond the boundaries of traditional photographic language, through a personal experimentation that intertwines graphic arts and painting. For transforming the medium of print into a critical device capable of questioning the relationship between colonialism and photography, showing how photography has historically been employed not only as a tool of documentation, but also as an instrument of domination and of shaping the perception of the ‘other’. Through the recontextualization of archival materials, the artist enables a reinterpretation of the dynamics of contemporary society, with particular attention to the perspectives of the Global South, revealing the persistence of systems of control and exclusion generated by colonialism, from urban planning to processes of social marginalization.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to Pietro Ruisi.

In the Sculpture/Installation category, the jury awarded the prize to Tommaso Silvestroni for the work "Riviera Zoom", with the following citation: “For his ability to transform a simple and seemingly playful gesture into a poetic and critically powerful device of extraordinary effectiveness. Through the use of a smartphone suspended from a kite, the artist constructs an unstable and vulnerable vision of the landscape, in which technology, memory, and the environment intertwine in a precarious balance. Flight thus becomes a metaphor for a gaze that attempts to overcome its own limits while never freeing itself from its inherent fragility, remaining literally ‘hanging by a thread’. The work addresses, with sensitivity and originality, some of the crucial themes of the present – the relationship between childhood and the Anthropocene, the transformation of the territory, the legacy of extractive economies, and the trust placed in new technologies – while avoiding any form of rhetoric. The final, sudden, and inevitable fall does not represent a defeat, but instead returns the viewer to an awareness of the human condition: every aspiration for control coexists with uncertainty, and every technological achievement retains a dimension of risk. For the coherence between formal research and conceptual reflection, the quality of the immersive experience, capable of engaging both body and gaze, and the ability to convey the complexity of our time with both lightness and depth.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to Alice Ahad.

Finally, in the Video category, the jury awarded the prize to Anouk Chambaz for the work "Di notte", with the following citation: “For the extraordinary maturity of her directorial vision and her ability to construct a narrative of profound emotional intensity through an essential language. In Di notte, the artist entrusts light, sound, rhythm, and the evocative power of moving images with the task of expressing what escapes words. Through a few carefully selected elements and rigorous control of form, she creates a cinematic experience that moves through memory, imagination, and the unconscious, demonstrating how video can reach the deepest layers of human experience.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to Mehrnoosh Roshanaei.

The Galleria Awards, a special prize created through the collaboration with five major contemporary art galleries and the independent space SAC Spazio Arte Contemporanea in Livorno, consist of the realization of an exhibition project at their respective venues during the 2026/27 season, thus continuing the dialogue initiated through participation in the Prize. The awards were given to:

A Pick Gallery in Turin selected Sergio Gagliardo and Tunahan Havrandere as winners.
Candy Snake Gallery in Milan awarded the prize to Giuseppe Sciortino.
LABS Contemporary Art in Bologna assigned the award to Agnese Oprandi and Simone Miccichè.
Mondoromulo arte contemporanea in Castelvenere, Benevento, selected Sofia Villa and Zhiyu Liu as winners.
For the Fondazione The Bank – Istituto per gli Studi sulla Pittura Contemporanea, the winner is Marco Paleari.
The independent space SAC Spazio Arte Contemporanea in Livorno selected Andrea Loi, Marco Paleari, and Sofia Villa as winners.

The Poliart Prize was awarded to Luca Gerry Conte. Poliart, a leading company in the expanded polystyrene sector, will support the production of a new work by the artist.

The THE PLACE Prize, promoted by the newly established marketplace THE PLACE together with the association Ultracontemporary Art Project APS (U-ART-P APS), in collaboration with Calcografica Petronilla, was awarded to Mauro Valsecchi for the creation of the engraving "L’ultimo ricordo, forse era un sogno, 2026"

The PrintLitoArt Special Prize, promoted by PrintLitoArt, an Italian industrial atelier specialized in the production of certified art lithographs, was awarded to Giacomo Mallardo. The prize includes the realization, at the atelier, of a lithographic edition of 30 numbered copies with embossed marking.

Finally, the Audience Award, based on the preferences expressed by visitors to the exhibition, was awarded to Pier Lorenzo Pisano for the work SOLOLEI.