The City of Novara National Art Award is back. The now traditional event, now in its twenty-second edition, will also be hosted at the Castle this year. The most significant innovation, as artistic director Vincenzo Scardigno wanted to underline during the presentation, is represented by the fact that, after the work of the committee for the selection of the winners, scheduled for Saturday 25 May, on the following day there will be a vernissage at the same time for the public and the awards ceremony (at 10am and 5pm respectively), with the exhibition which can be visited until Sunday 2 June (from 3pm to 7pm; Saturday and Sunday also from 10am to 1pm with free admission).
The philosophy of the event does not change, Scardigno recalled, «aimed at the promotion and valorisation of contemporary art through not only an exhibition of works of art, but also at the creation of a meeting moment to exchange ideas between all operators of the sector”. Two exhibitions are planned: the exhibition of twelve artists out of competition and invited by the organizers among the many who have had the opportunity to distinguish themselves in previous editions, then that of this year’s finalists (about fifty of the hundreds of entries received), with a particular section reserved for local ones. The winners will also have the opportunity to exhibit their works in the Azimut space in via Canobio.
The initiative, which enjoys the patronage of the Municipality and Province of Novara, of the ATL Alto Piemonte of the Castello Foundation, and the collaboration of the Rotary Club Novara San Gaudenzio and Azimut, will also include on this occasion the moment called “meeting with l’arte” for the awarding of the Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded this year to the Turin artist Mario Surbone and to Mario Turetta, general secretary of the Ministry of Culture. Finally, once again confirming the maxim “art rewards art”, this year’s winners will be rewarded with a work created specifically by the artist Antonio Devincenzi, who won the 2023 edition.
