TRENTO, ITALY.- Twelve young performers from all over the world, an architecturally striking arena, an absolute high level international jury, the possibility of being present at some of the world’s best live actions, a monetary prize for the definite winner: these are just some of the characteristics of the forthcoming International Prize for Performance, now in its second edition, with the final evenings taking place on September 29th and 30th at the Centrale di Fies in Dro (Trento).

Organized by the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea of Trento, in collaboration with drodesera > centrale fies and Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara of Trento, the initiative takes the same winning formula as last season, which awarded the first place prize to the artist Nico Vascellari, a quality choice that was also confirmed by the New York Prize 2006 and by his presence at Liste in occasion of the Basel Art Fair as the only representative of Italian art. The 2005 Prize saw high participation numbers from both the public and the artists, and can be characterized as the first and only prize for performance that exists in the world.

This year, in a phase where performance seems to have returned to shake up the international art scene – with Marina Abramovic who created her Seven Easy Pieces at the Guggenheim this past November and with the first Biennial of Performance which took place in the same period in New York – the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea presents again its Prize, driving home the importance of this fertile sphere of research at the crossroads between the arts.

Talented young performers (the Prize is in fact dedicated to artists less than 35 years old) will compete for first prize on the evenings of September 29th and 30th, under the eyes of a jury composed of some of the most absolute names in the Italian and international contemporary art world, one of whom will be president, the Austrian performance artist Valie Export. Born in 1940 in Linz, Valie Export (whose real name is Waltraud Lehner) rose to shake the art world at the end of the Sixties for her “feminist” performances, among which Tapp- und Tast-Kino where she constructed a small theater around her chest and invited the public to touch her behind the curtains, or rather the 1971 Facing a Family (one of the first artistic interventions to use the television medium), or still 1969’s Aus der Mappe der Hundigkeit, where she took her partner Peter Weibel out for a walk, on all fours with a collar and a leash.

The other members of the jury will be Umberto Angelini (Uovo Performing Arts Festival, Milan), Stefan Bidner (director of Kunstraum, Innsbruck), Ann Demeester (director of the Foundation for contemporary art De Appel of Amsterdam) Rodrigo Garcia (theatrical director, founder of the group La Carniceria), Massimiliano Gioni (director of the Fondazione Trussardi of Milan), Barbara Boninsegna (drodesera > centrale fies), Franco Oss Noser (director of the Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara of Trento), Fabio Cavallucci (director of the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea of Trento).

The Galleria Civica, more than an institution that investigates some of the most advanced tendencies and problems in contemporary art, would like to propose itself as a promoter of the Italian artistic scene and of the local cultural ferment, and has therefore scheduled a preferential access way to the finals, reserved for artists originating from Trentino - Alto Adige, from the province of Verona and from Austrian Tyrol, which will have its own pre-selection evening, September 16th at the Centro Servizi Culturali S. Chiara of Trento. The authors of the two most deserving works chosen by the local jury, composed of young art historians and journalists, will automatically become finalists in the Prize. The winner will be granted a monetary prize of 5,000 euros, while the leader of the local pre-selection classifications will be awarded 1,000 euros. The International Prize for Performance – Second Edition – is organized by the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea di Trento in collaboration with drodesera > centrale fies and Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara of Trento, with the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento and Rovereto, the Regione Trentino - Alto Adige and the Opera Universitaria of Trento.