ACEA Contemporanea Award: water as an artistic language

The ACEA Contemporanea Award showcases works by students and recent graduates from Rome's art academies, exploring water through painting, sculpture, photography, installation, digital art, performance and design. A free group exhibition will be open to the public on 23 and 24 May 2026 at Acea Heritage in Piazzale Ostiense.

Awarded works and themes

The selected projects address water management, the loss of climatic cycles and the vulnerability of access to water, offering critical and poetic perspectives on sustainability.

• First prize: Rucsanda Cristache (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) – "Flowing", an installation inspired by Platonic solids that evokes water's fragility and individual responsibility for resources.
• Second prize: Silvia Spoti (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) – "La misura dell'acqua", plexiglass and paper panels relating the flow of water to the passage of time and reduced river capacity.
• Third prize (ex aequo): Valerio Pacini (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) – "240 Liters (way of finding)", a site-specific tank installation; and Giorgia Armario (Accademia Italiana) – a photographic triptych comparing contemporary and archival snowy landscapes.
• Special mention: Lars Lattacher (Accademia Italiana) for an educational project that turns the care of Rome's "nasoni" into hands-on creative activities for schools.

Practical information

Where: Acea Heritage, Piazzale Ostiense, Rome.
When: free visits on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May 2026 (some participating artists will be present).
Why attend: the exhibition is an opportunity to meet emerging artists and see how contemporary art can raise awareness on water-related sustainability issues.

Practical tips: plan to arrive early if you want to speak with the artists during scheduled encounters; check the venue's official channels for opening times and any last-minute updates before you go.