ACEA Contemporanea Award: water as a creative language

The ACEA Contemporanea Award focuses on water, presenting a group exhibition by recent graduates and students from Rome's academies and art schools. The displayed projects explore water resource management, shifts in climatic cycles and unequal access to water using varied media: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, digital art, performance and design.

Awarded projects and highlights

• 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 in protecting resources.
• Second prize: Silvia Spoti (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) — "La misura dell'acqua", panels in plexiglass and paper that relate time to reduced river flows.
• Third prize (ex aequo): Valerio Pacini (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma) — "240 Liters (way of finding)", an installation featuring a 240-litre tank; and Giorgia Armario (Accademia Italiana) — a photographic triptych comparing contemporary and archival images of snow.
• Special mention: Lars Lattacher (Accademia Italiana) — an educational project that transforms the care of Rome's "nasoni" public fountains into creative learning activities.

Practical information

Where: Acea Heritage, Piazzale Ostiense 2, Rome.

When: free visits on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May 2026 (some artists will be present during the weekend).

• Free admission.
• Arrive early if you want to attend talks or meet the artists during discussion sessions.
• Check the exhibition space's official channels for possible schedule updates before your visit.

The exhibition is a direct opportunity to engage with emerging creators and see how contemporary art can raise awareness on water sustainability.