On 9 September 2026, the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome hosted the awards ceremony for the winning entries of the second edition of EvolveArt, a competition exploring the energy transition through contemporary art and the talent of art school students. The sculptures will remain on display at the GNAMC until 27 September!

A crowd-filled Sala delle Colonne at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome hosted the awards ceremony honouring the talent of young artists – students at art schools – who put themselves to the test and emerged victorious in the second edition of the EvolveArt competition – an initiative that brings together education, art and industry in support of the energy transition, launched in 2024 in partnership with the MAIRE Group, AbiLiArt and ReNaLiArt, and which, in its second edition, also boasts the prestigious collaboration of the GNAMC.

In this second edition of the competition, the challenge was to create sculptures; out of 134 design proposals, eight were selected as winners. The works offer different perspectives on sustainability, circularity and the relationship between people, the environment and technology. Through the language of contemporary art, concepts often perceived as technical or distant are transformed into experience, imagination and shared dialogue, shaped by the talent, vision and enthusiasm of these very young students, with the support and collaboration of their teachers.

The awards ceremony began with an opening adderss by Cristina Mazzantini, Director General of GNAMC, followed by a speech from Carlo Nicolais, Vice President of Group Institutional Relations, Communication & Sustainability at MAIRE, who invited representatives of the project partners onto the stage: Mariagrazia Dardanelli, President of AbiLiArt, and Enrico Battisti, President of ReNaLiArt.

At the heart of the event was the talent of the young artists. Our Director General, Ilaria Catastini, invited the artists and their supervising teachers onto the stage for each winning work, asking them to share their perspectives, discuss the technical complexity, and explain the inspiration or emotion behind the creation; accompanying this account was a technical commentary by Susanne Meueur – curator of the exhibition alongside the Director of the GNAMC and the team from the MAIRE Foundation and Group. The segment dedicated to the young students was rounded off by a contribution from Flaminia Giorda, Technical Director of the MIM and Coordinator of the technical department for the school-leaving examinations.

The event concluded with a speech by Fabrizio Di Amato, Chairman and Founder of the MAIRE Group and the MAIRE – ETS Foundation. In his address, the Chairman emphasised that EvolveArt represents much more than just a competition: it is an opportunity for growth, for listening, and for nurturing the talent of the younger generation. Investing in young people means, in fact, providing tools, opportunities and trust to those who will be at the forefront of tomorrow’s transformations, fostering creative skills and civic awareness in a field – that of the energy transition – which demands vision, responsibility and the ability to innovate. In a word: the future.

And this is precisely the added value of this initiative: using contemporary art as a universal language to foster dialogue and open up new perspectives on the energy transition, whilst at the same time offering young people a tangible opportunity to imagine and shape their own future – this is at the very heart of this initiative.

The eight sculptures will remain on display at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome – in the Aldrovandi Mezzanine – until 27 September 2026, subject to the purchase of an admission ticket to the Gallery, which entitles visitors to view all the exhibitions and works on display there.

For information and to buy tickets: EvolveArt. Second Edition | National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art.

To relive every stage of the project and discover all the details of this edition: Evolveart 2 edizione | Fondazione.