The Contemporary Art COMEL Award Vanna Migliorin (hereafter ‘COMEL Prize’) was established in 2012 in memory of Mrs. Vanna Migliorin, her passion for art, her enthusiasm in supporting innovative projects. Vanna Migliorin was an affectionate mother and an ingenious entrepreneur.
She founded the CO.ME.L. company in 1968, in Latina, with her husband Alfonso Mazzola, a leading company in the trade and processing of semi-finished aluminium metals, that promotes and supports the COMEL Prize a brilliant example of synergy between art and business. (1).
It is a well-established art reality in the contemporary art sector and it can be counted among the most innovative European art competitions. It selects 13 artists whose works, sticking to the assigned theme, best enlighten the expressive, aesthetic, communicative and creative qualities of aluminium.
A project, now at its 9th edition, that promotes intercultural relations among European countries, creating opportunities for sharing and meeting among artists, scholars and the public.
Participation in the competition is free and open to artists aged 18 and above that use aluminium as a main element in the realization of the artwork they intend to enroll in the competition and live and work in one of the countries of the European continent.
The 13 finalist works, selected by a panel of experts, will be exhibited in Latina, in the Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea gallery (www.spaziocomel.it), the exclusive venue of the event.
The winner will be awarded the ‘Jury Prize’, while the public who will visit the exhibition will be called to vote for the favorite works, and will decide who wins the ‘Audience Award’.
As it happens at each edition, in view of a planned and effective promotion of the participants and the prize itself, a catalog is expected to be drawn up by the organization, along with a targeted distribution of specialized media. In addition, a written interview will be dedicated to the selected winner’s art experience as an important testimony that will become part of the portfolio of the Award website. The editing of the catalog and the communication will be completely sponsored by the COMEL AWARD as well.

1 The COMEL Award has joined the “AMACI project – Business with Contemporary Art”. It is a network of companies with a common interest in supporting the value of Contemporary Art in Italy, so as to transmit knowledge, experiences and ideas, according to the principle of sharing among the partners of AMACI.

WHY ALUMINIUM?

Aluminium can be forged, modeled, laminated, like hot wax in the artist’s hands. It lends itself to take on the desired forms and volumes. It is lightweight (a third of steel), shiny, soft, durable, with good electrical and thermal conductivity, 100% recyclable with an energy cost equal to one twentieth of that necessary for its first melting. Visually intriguing, with its unique characteristics, aluminium is the true contemporary material.

WHY 13 ARTISTS?

Because in the Table of Elements, aluminium is the chemical element with the atomic number 13.

ART. 1 – OBJECTIVES AND AIMS OF THE COMEL AWARD 2022
The 2022 COMEL Award aims at:
1. promoting Contemporary Art and the intercultural relationships among the European countries;
2. strenghtening the link between Contemporary Art and business;
3. enhancing the value of aluminium, its expressive, aesthetic, communicative and constructive possibilities;
4. establishing a vital and significant relationship between the public and the artists.

ART. 2 – TITLE OF THE COMEL AWARD 2022
ENDLESS ALUMINIUM

“An artist can only be someone who has his own religion, an original intuition of the infinite”

Friedrich Schlegel
from Critical Fragments and Writings of Aesthetics (1797)

Aluminium is the only metal that can be 100% recycled without losing the technical properties that characterize it such as conductivity, malleability, and luster. This process can be repeated an infinite number of times, without losing any of its peculiarities; every time ready to face new cycles, to give life to new products.
The theme of the COMEL 2022 Award, Endless Aluminium, underlines precisely this characteristic: the possibility of this material to live infinite lives while always remaining the same; to change form and use without ever changing its composition; to ignore time and be reborn indefinitely, always starting new paths, seizing new opportunities.

In this ninth edition, artists are asked to create works that therefore recall the concept of infinity, new beginnings, and rebirth. The works eligible to participate will only be those in which aluminium, even if used together with other materials, is visibly the predominant material.

ART. 3 – CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

Participation in the competition is free. There are no age limits and it is open to all artists, 18 years of age and older as far as they use aluminium as the main and significant material for the realization of the work to be submitted and live and work in one of the countries of the European continent (without necessarily having the citizenship of the country of residence).

Each artist may submit only one work (Sign up by following the instructions in Paragraph 5 – REGISTRATION)

The deadline for submission to the COMEL AWARD is August 28, 2022.

All employees of the promoter company and those who are linked by kinship are excluded from participating to the Contest. All third parties and their employees that collaborate in any way for the realization of the Competition are also excluded. The winners of the previous editions of the Prize are also excluded from participating in the Contest.

ART. 4 – CRITERIA FOR ARTWORKS
Released or unreleased artworks using the following techniques may be submitted: painting, sculpture, design, photography and installation that uses aluminium as the main and most significant element.
Quality, research, originality and contemporaneity of the work will be the main criteria of selection. Maximum allowed size of the works is 150 x 150 x 150 cm.
The work must be completely done 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 presents them. The selected works, accompanied by all the necessary materials and detailed instructions, must arrive ready to be installed. The works, under penalty of exclusion, must not be winners of other competitions similar to this one.

ART. 5 – REGISTRATION
Interested artists can register using one of the following methods:
completely fill in the online participation form available on the website www.premiocomel.it Registration section
download, complete the participation form (Annex A1) available on the website www.premiocomel.it and send an email with the requested material to the following address: info@premiocomel.it;

In all cases, under penalty of exclusion, the following information must be provided:
a) name and surname;
b) nation and date of birth;
c) place of residence (nation, city, province);
d) postal address;
e) email address and website or internet visibility;
f) phone number;
g) a series of 3 to 5 images of the work, full-length picture, taken from different perspectives (5 MB maximum size) and showing clearly the work with aluminium, with the indications of technical characteristics, the materials used, size, title and year of creation;
h) a brief description of the artwork to be submitted;
i) a brief curriculum vitae, biography and ‘artist statement’;
j) processing of personal data authorization;
k) full acceptance of rules and regulations of the Award referred to in this announcement.

ART. 6 – SELECTION PROCESS AND JURY


A professional Committee in the field of art, will select thirteen works, among all the submitted artworks. The thirteen works will be exhibited, at a date to be defined, at the gallery Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea, via Neghelli 68, Latina, Italy, in a special dedicated exhibition for the selected artists and the Jury will choose among them the winner for the COMEL Award of Contemporary art 2022.
In addition to the above mentioned 13 artworks, the Jury will also identify two additional reserves that will be called to participate in the exhibition, only in the case of exclusion or waiver of the previous selected works. The Jury also may signal, beyond the winner, some special mentions and/or prizes
The selection procedure will be performed on photographic images, so it is recommended for the submission, to send the material as exhaustive as possible. The judgement expressed by the Jury is final and irrevocable.

The judgement expressed by the Jury is final and irrevocable.The names of the members of the jury of the COMEL award 2022, chaired by Giorgio Agnisola, art critic and writer, professor of sacred art at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy. Alongside him in the selection of this year’s 13 finalists: Giulia Palma, Director of the Bioiconographic Archive and Historical Funds of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome; Marilena Vita, artist, performer, event curator, and art critic; Michelangelo Giovinale, professor of art history, freelance curator, art critic; Maria Gabriella Mazzola representing CO.ME.L. promoter and sponsor of the Award.

ART. 7 – PHASES AND DEADLINES

1. August 28, 2022 (midnight), the registration deadline of the COMEL 2022 Award;
2. Within October 30, 2022, the finalist artists will be contacted via e-mail and announced online, who will be provided with information on sending the work and the exhibition;
3. Between 3 and 28 October 2022, the selected artists must send the registered work (see Art. 9 – TRANSPORT, INSURANCE, PREPARATION OF WORKS). Failure to respect the delivery date of the work will result in exclusion from the competition. The works must be delivered in suitable reusable packaging for returning the works at the end of the competition.
4. Exhibition opening: November 12, 2022
5. Proclamation and award ceremony: December 3, 2022

ART. 8 – AWARDS

A) COMEL jury Award
The unique winning artist will be awarded the COMEL Jury Award 2022. The prize consists of a cash prize of € 3500. ² The winning artist will also be awarded a solo exhibition to be held at the Spazio COMEL Arte Contemporanea, located in via Neghelli, 68 – Latina. The publication of a catalogue of the exhibition is also included. The dates and conditions of the exhibition to be agreed in advance with the organization and however no later than the calendar year in which the prize has been held. The work will become part of the permanent collection.

CO.ME.L. By accepting the Prize, the winner relinquishes ownership of his/her work and gives. CO.ME.L. all rights related to it, including the publication right of the image, while retaining the right to be recognized as the author of the artwork.

² Witholding tax on money prize

B) Audience COMEL Award 2022
The artist who will receive the greatest number of preferences from the exhibition visitors, will be awarded a solo exhibition to be held at the Spazio COMEL contemporary art gallery, located in via Neghelli, 68 – Latina. The dates and conditions will be agreed in advance with the organization and it will be displayed no later than the calendar year in which the prize has been held. The ‘Audience Award 2022’ does not consist of a cash prize and the winning artwork will remain property of the artist.

The awards will take place on Saturday 3 December 2022 as part of the exhibition. The presence of the winners of the competition at the time of the award ceremony was very welcome.

ART. 9 – CATALOGUE
The catalog will include pictures of the selected works, short biographical notes of the finalists and critical texts of the jury, in Italian and English. Copies of the catalog will be delivered free of charge to the artists and to all visitors of the exhibition.

ART. 10 – OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION
The inauguration will take place on Saturday 12 November 2022 and the works will remain on display until Saturday 03 December, 2022, subject to a possible extension of the exhibition time.

ART. 11 – TRANSPORTATION, INSURANCE, ARTWORKS INSTALLATION
The transportation (delivery and collection) and insurance will be at the expense of the artist. The COMEL will take charge of the insurance of the works only within the gallery space, during the exhibition.
The works must be received no later than Friday 28 October, 2022, under penalty of exclusion, at the headquarters of the CO.ME.L. in Latina (LT), CAP 04100, in Via Congiunte sinistre n ° 398 from 8: 30/13: 00 – 15: 00/18: 00 from Monday to Friday. It is essential that the works arrive accompanied by suitable reusable packaging for the return of the works at the end of the competition.

The works must be delivered in a suitable reusable packaging for the return of the artworks at the end of the competition
The artworks will be installed by the exhibition organizers according to the instructions previously arranged with the artists (see Paragraph 4 – CRITERIA FOR ARTWORKS). Each work must arrive ready for installation, under penalty of exclusion. Except for the award winning work (which becomes the property of the CO.ME.L permanent collection) all artworks should be collected directly from the CO.ME.L. company premises by Friday 22 December 2022, at the company address:
CO.ME.L. via Congiunte Sinistre n. 398 – 04100 Latina (LT) Italy. From Monday to Friday, from 8.30/13.00 to 15:00/18:00

The works not collected within the deadline will be considered as a legacy to the Prize.

ART. 12 – PRIVACY
Each candidate expressly authorizes the COMEL Prize, as well as his legal representative, to process personal data transmitted, pursuant to law 675/96 (Privacy law) and subsequent amendments of Legislative Decree 196/2003 (Privacy code), also for the insertion in databases managed by the aforementioned people.
Each participant in the competition grants the COMEL Prize, as well as its legal representative, free of charge, the reproduction rights of the works and texts released to the prize, for the purpose of drawing up the catalog, publication on the Prize website and other forms of communication, promotion and activities of the organization. The material sent for registration only, will not be returned.
The organizers of the competition will have the right to make a final decision on anything not specified in this notice.
The organization reserves itself the right to make changes to the notice if the need arises, communicating it on the portal www.premiocomel.it

Participation in the COMEL Prize implies full and complete acceptance of all the articles of this call for submission.