Comel Award 2024: ALUMINIUM BENEATH THE SURFACE

A new closing date for the 2024 COMEL award “Aluminium, Beneath the Surface” call for entries has been announced: you can enter until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 7. 

The COMEL Prize is renewed in its 11th edition and participation in the call is free and open to artists aged 18 and over who use aluminium as the main element in the creation of the work they intend to enter in the competition.

At each edition, a high-level jury selects, among all the entries received, the 13 finalist works that will be exhibited in Latina, in the Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea (www.spaziocomel.it gallery  ), the exclusive venue of the event. The winner will be awarded the Jury Prize, while the public visiting the exhibition will be asked to vote for their favorite works by decreeing the winner of the Audience Award.

Why aluminium

Aluminium can be forged, shaped, laminated, like hot wax in the hands of an artist, it lends itself to taking on the desired shapes and volumes. Light (it weighs a third of steel), shiny, soft, resistant, with good electrical and thermal conductivity, 100% recyclable with an energy cost equal to one twentieth of that needed for its first casting, visually intriguing, aluminum with its unique characteristics, is the true material of contemporaneity.

Why 13 artists

Because in the periodic table of elements, aluminum has atomic number 13.

The "COMEL Prize" adheres to the "AMACI - Imprese con l'Arte Contemporanea" circuit. The project "aims to create a network of companies that, driven by the common desire to support the value of contemporary art in Italy, can transmit knowledge, experiences and ideas, benefiting from the logic of sharing among the participating partners".

The COMEL 2024 Award aims to:

1. to promote contemporary art and intercultural relations between European countries;
2. consolidate the link between art and business;
3. enhance aluminium and its expressive, aesthetic, communicative and constructive possibilities;
4. Create a vital and meaningful relationship between the audience and the artists.

TITLE OF THE COMEL 2024 AWARD: ALUMINIUM BELOW THE SURFACE

"Art is always a story behind appearances"

Anonymous

ELIGIBILITY

Participation in the call is free of charge. There are no age limits and it is open to all contemporary artists, aged 18 and over, of all European nationalities, who use aluminium as the main and significant element for the creation of the work they intend to enter in the competition.

Entry for the Prize is allowed only with one work.

The deadline for registration for the COMEL Award 2024 is 23 June 2024

All employees of the Promoting Company and those who are related to them are excluded from participation in the Competition. Furthermore, all third parties and their employees who collaborate in any capacity in the realization of the Competition are excluded. Winners of previous editions are excluded.

WORKS

Works, published or unpublished, made with any technique: painting, sculpture, design, photography and installation, which use aluminum as the main and significant element, are admitted. Fundamental selection criteria will be the quality, research, originality and contemporaneity of the work. The maximum size of the works admitted to participate is 150 x 150 x 150 cm.

The work must be completely completed at the time of registration, projects, sketches or 3D simulations of the works will not be accepted. The works nominated for the Prize must be the physical and intellectual property of the artist who submits them. The selected works, accompanied by all the necessary material and detailed instructions, must arrive ready for set-up. The works, under penalty of exclusion, must not be the winners of other competitions similar to this one.

Calendar

23 June 2024 (24.00), last day for registration for the COMEL 2024 Award

By August 30, 2024, the finalist artists will be contacted by e-mail and announced online, who will be provided with information on how to submit the work and the exhibition;

By September 27, 2024, the selected artists must send the duly registered work.

TRANSPORT, INSURANCE, PREPARATION OF WORKS

Failure to comply with the deadline for the delivery of the work will result in exclusion from the competition. The works must be delivered in suitable reusable packaging for the return of the works at the end of the competition.

Exhibition opening 23 October 2024

Announcement and award ceremony of the winners 16 November 2024

AWARDS & EQUIPMENT

1. A) COMEL Jury Prize 2024

The sole winning artist designated by the Jury will be awarded the "COMEL Prize 2024" which consists of a sum of money equal to € 3,500, in a solo exhibition at the "Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea in via Neghelli 68 in Latina", already home of the Prize (on a date and with methods to be agreed in advance with the organization, in any case no later than the year following the award ceremony) and the related publication of a catalog.

As required by law, a withholding tax will be applied to the prize.

1. B) COMEL Audience Award 2024

The artist who receives the most preferences from visitors to the exhibition will be awarded the "COMEL Audience Award 2024" which consists of the opportunity to exhibit in a solo exhibition within the gallery, "Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea" in Via Neghelli 68 in Latina on a date and in a manner to be agreed in advance with the organization, in any case no later than the year following the award ceremony. The "Audience Award 2024" does not consist of a cash prize and the winning work will remain the property of the artist.

The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 16, 2024 as part of the exhibition. The presence of the winners of the competition at the time of the award ceremony was very welcome.

CATALOGUE

The catalogue will contain photos of the selected works, brief biographical notes of the finalist artists and critical texts by the jury, in Italian and English. Copies of the catalogue will be given free of charge to the artists and to all visitors to the exhibition.

TRANSPORT, INSURANCE, PREPARATION OF WORKS

Transportation (delivery and collection) and insurance are the responsibility of the artist. COMEL Industrie is responsible for the insurance of the works exclusively within the Exhibition Space.

HOW TO APPLY:

To register for the COMEL 2024 Prize, interested artists can join directly online, or by sending an email, in the following ways:

(all information can be found in the 'Registration' section of the www.premiocomel.it Prize website  )

1. Fill in the full online participation form available on the website www.premiocomel.it

or

1. Download, fill in the full participation form available on the www.premiocomel.it website and send an email with the required material to the following address:

info@premiocomel.it ;

In both cases, under penalty of exclusion, the following information must be provided:

1. a) Name and surname
2. b) country and date of birth
3. c) place of residence (country, city, province)
4. d) postal address
5. e) e-mail address and any website or references that you consider useful
6. f) Telephone numbers
7. g) a series of 3-5 images of the full-format work and of the work taken from different angles (for a total of 5 MB) from which the work of the aluminium is clearly evident, with an indication of the technical characteristics and materials of construction, measurements, title and year of execution
8. h) a brief description of the work to be presented
9. i) Brief curriculum vitae, biography and artist statement.
10. j) Authorization for the processing of personal data
11. k) full acceptance of the prize regulations referred to in this announcement

For more information: https://www.premiocomel.it/bando-2024/