The call for entries of the thirteenth and final edition of the COMEL Award closed at midnight on July 21.

For the organizers, this marks—with inevitable emotion—the conclusion of a fundamental phase of the Award and the beginning of the most delicate one: the work of the jury, tasked with examining all submitted artworks and selecting the thirteen finalists.

This year once again, the call achieved remarkable success, with hundreds of applications arriving from all over Italy and numerous European countries: Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. Applications also came from Australia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, Iran, and Mexico which, although were not eligible because the competition is reserved for artists living or working in Europe, testify to the international reach the COMEL Award has now attained.

A result that fills the organizers with pride and expresses better than any number the journey accomplished over these thirteen years. The COMEL Award has taken aluminium art far beyond Italian borders, but above all it has created relationships, encounters, and opportunities for dialogue among artists from different cultures and backgrounds. Making this final edition even more meaningful is the return of many participants from past editions, who chose to apply once again—as if wishing to take part one last time in an event that has been much more than a competition: an intellectual stimulus, a welcoming space, a place of sharing where art has become an opportunity for dialogue, growth, and bonds destined to last over time.

The submitted artworks range from painting to sculpture, from photography to installation, offering very diverse interpretations of the theme and of the expressive potential of aluminium. The jury therefore faces an especially demanding task. By the end of August, the names of the thirteen finalists who will take part in the concluding exhibition “Aluminium, Future Intertwinings”, scheduled from October 17 to November 7 at Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea, will be announced.