The third and current edition of the Premio del
Golfo, following its resumption in 2001, predominantly confirms
the desire of the sponsoring Companies grouped together into SPAV-Spezia
Arti Visive Srl, to lend continuity and a renewed impulse to the
initiative launched in the city of La Spezia long ago, in 1933.
The revival of the Premio was motivated by a strong interest in
contemporary art which, in different ways and forms, has launched
a growing number of passionate collectors, some of whom local, as
well as significant artists making their mark nationally. It is
this framework which, resuming the original initiative by Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti, is unanimously considered characteristic of the
Premio: to recognize young and worthy Italian artists and those
from many other European and Mediterranean countries in an exhibition
capable of highlighting the most interesting aspects in the panorama
of contemporary art.
The new edition of the Premio has likewise contributed and acted
as a stimulus to the anxiously awaited opening of the La Spezia
Modern and Contemporary Art Center inaugurated this year, in May.
It has already become a prestigious site of important national and
international exhibitions and cultural events, as well as being
the permanent seat of the city’s collections of modern and
contemporary art which includes the works from the Cozzani and Battolini
donations and those from previous editions of the Premio del Golfo.
One of the principal objectives of those who have made the Premio
possible was to found a modern center of contemporary art. Today,
finally, that goal has been realized with the celebration of this
new edition of the Premio at CAMeC, its proper and prestigious home
for making the most of the historical event now and in the future.
The same year, 2004, which recognized Genoa as the “European
Cultural Capital,” and La Spezia, with the 2004 Premio del
Golfo celebrated in the city’s new Modern and Contemporary
Art Center, has fully and concretely honored the goal of becoming
the emblem and interlocutor of the most vital cultural experiences
to exist in Italy and in the rest of Europe. |
