The 12th Edition of the Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi per l’Arte – EnterPrize, the major international acknowledgment dedicated to curators under 30,conceived by the GAMeC in 2003 with the support of the Gruppo Bonaldi, and which first emerged from the desire to commemorate Lorenzo Bonaldi’s passion for art and collecting, has been won by Greta Martina for the exhibition project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde[1].
The jury, headed by Lorenzo Giusti, Director of the GAMeC, and made up of the artist Isaac Julien, and Alia Swastika, Director of the Jogja Biennial and co-curator of the 16th Sharjah Biennial, after having taken part in the presentation and discussion among all the participants in this edition and having examined the various competing projects presented by all the candidates, has unanimously decided to award the Prize to the project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde curated by Greta Martina, that involves the artists Attila Faravelli (1976, Italy); Enrico Malatesta (1985, Italy); Felicity Mangan (1978, Australia); O Thiasos TeatroNatura: Sista Bramini (1958, Italy), Camilla Dell’Agnola (1987, Italy), Nora Tigges (1973, Italy); Umberto Pellini (1995, Italy); Nicola Ratti (1978, Italy); Lorenzo Silvestri (1999, Italy); Valentina Viviani (1991, Argentina).
Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde (Were I with you, getting lost in the green) is an invitation to rediscover our bond with nature through wonder, care, and responsibility. Inspired by the writings of Aldo Leopold and Giovanni Pascoli, the project encourages an immersion in the green dimension, weaving together artworks, workshops, and performances across the exhibition spaces of GAMeC and the surrounding landscapes of Bergamo. The art institution becomes a meeting point where the wonder of childhood meets the awareness of adulthood, fostering a space for connection, participation, and collective reflection.
The jury particularly appreciated the care taken in how the project emphasizes the aspects of participation and responsibility in the relationship between human and non-human natural communities. The curator seamlessly integrated the conceptual framework of her project with the biennial program Thinking Like a Mountain which it is part of. She proposed workshops and performances scheduled throughout the duration of the exhibition, hosted in various locations across the Bergamo area. The jury also commended the curator’s collaboration with the artists invited, who engaged with the specific context of Bergamo and its surroundings, creating new works conceived especially for the project and the museum. Lastly, the jury acknowledged the originality of the project’s initial reference: a verse from a poem by Giovanni Pascoli, a nineteenth-century Italian poet, which calls for slowing down and marveling at nature, so as to rediscover a childlike sense of wonder toward the world, through the lens of the deeper awareness and commitment expected of an adult.
Ever since its foundation, the Prize has always aimed to underline the central role and the meaning of the figure of the curator on the international artistic panorama through the production of an original exhibition project, conceived on the basis of a given exhibition space and a fixed budget.
As well as Greta Martina, selected by Zasha Colah, Curator of the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, the 12th Edition of the Prize saw the participation of the following curators:
Salem AlSuwaidi, selected by Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel, Dubai;
Sneha Shah, selected by Blanca de la Torre, Head Curator of the 3rd Helsinki Biennale.
Curators Asma Barchiche, selected by Stephanie Seidel, Curator ICA Miami, and Yina Jiménez Suriel, selected by Chus Martínez, Head of the Institute Art Gender Nature in Basel, Associate Curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA2) and Global Fellow at EWHA (Womans University Seoul), have withdrawn their candidacy.
The exhibition project will be presented in February 2025 as part of the Thinking Like a Mountain program, between Serina—the birthplace town of Lorenzo Bonaldi, to whom the Prize is dedicated—and GAMeC.
The editions of the Prize have seen the following projects staged over the years: Another Zero, curated by November Paynter (2004); No Manifesto, curated by Andrea Viliani (2005); Aesthetics / Dietetics, curated by Mizuki Endo (2006); Data Recovery, curated by Övül Dormuşoğlu (2008); The Crystal Hypothesis, curated by Yoann Gourmel and Élodie Royer (2010); The Log-O-Rithmic, curated by Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen (2012); Mississippi, curated by Sam Korman (2014); Soft Crash, curated by Xiaoyu Weng (2016); Enchanted Bodies/Fetish for Freedom, curated by Bernardo Mosqueira (2018); In The Forest, Even The Air Breathes, curated by Abhijan Toto (2020); Dancing Plague, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos (2022).
Greta Martina (b. 2000, Bologna, Italy) is an artist and independent curator with a focus on language and moving image, which she investigates through both artistic and curatorial practices. She graduated in Foreign Languages and Literatures and has pursued studies in Bologna, Vienna (Universität Wien), Berlin (Freie Universität), and Milan, where she attended the master’s program in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti. Her professional experience includes collaborations with galleries and institutions, such as Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman (Vienna), KOW (Berlin), Triennale (Milan), Ar/Ge Kunst (Bolzano), François Ghebaly, and Mendes Wood DM (New York). She is the author of CORRISPONDENZE (Correspondences), available at several stores, including Printed Matter, Karma Bookstore, Aeon Books, and Colbo (New York). She is responsible for the personal office of Zasha Colah, artistic director of Ar/Ge Kunst Bolzano as well as curator of the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.
[1] Giovanni Pascoli, Myricae, 1891