MAXXI Bvlgari Prize 2026

Three previously unseen site-specific works that reflect on the present whilst looking to the future: at the MAXXI museum, the exhibition curated by Giulia Ferracci presents to the public the finalist works for the MAXXI Bvlgari Prize, an award dedicated to Italian creativity and, in particular, to the promotion of contemporary art and the support of young artists.

Established in 2000 as “Premio per la Giovane Arte”, the award has strengthened its international profile since 2018 thanks to a partnership with the high-end jewellery house Bvlgari, which has been a symbol of Italian excellence for over 130 years and has always been committed to research and experimentation. From 2024, the Bvlgari Foundation is the prize’s main partner. The three finalists are selected by an international jury from a shortlist of candidates identified by curators, researchers, critics and journalists from the contemporary art scene in Italy. For the first time this year, the shortlist (comprising artists born in the 1980s and 1990s) consists entirely of women: Chiara Bersani, Adji Dieye and Margherita Moscardini.

The exhibition opens with Adji Dieye’s large-scale installation “Una Resa senza Caduta”, which reinterprets and subverts the outline of the tower of the French West Africa pavilion at the 1931 Paris International Colonial Exhibition to demonstrate the extent to which that perspective still influences the present. “Una strada” by Margherita Moscardini brings sculpture and law together: the bronze reproduction of a section of the pavement on Via Guido Reni serves as the starting point for a legislative proposal on the common good. In the adjoining room, “Blanche. Si fece un giaciglio nel mio udito” by Chiara Bersani is a small wooden box covered in stucco and plaster, joined to a playable lyre: together, they form both a sarcophagus and a ritual designed to give shape to the question of which lives truly matter.

The winning work, selected by the jury and awarded on 23 February 2027, will be acquired by the museum and will become part of the MAXXI Collection.

Header: Adji Dieye. Una Resa senza Caduta, Installation view. Photo © Luis Do Rosario Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI