The fourteenth edition of the COMBAT AWARD, the international contemporary art competition organized by the Blob Art ETS cultural association, in partnership with the Municipality of Livorno, with the support of the Livorno Foundation, returns to liven up the Livorno summer from 17 June to 8 July 2023 , of the Sillabe publishing house together with the partner Opera Laboratori, as well as of Poliart, a leading company in the production of expanded polystyrene. The Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum - Granai di Villa Mimbelli will host the 80 finalist works from different parts of the world in its rooms, welcoming the sections of Painting, Graphics, Photography, Sculpture - Installation and Video - Performance in its rooms. Also for this edition, the Prize has gathered an important number of adhesions: in fact, 1094 are the works of the artists who have responded to the call and the foreign participations come from 36 different countries.

The event will end on 8 July with the award ceremony for the winners at the Museo Fattori where the Combat Prize worth ten thousand euros will be awarded, awarded by the Prize jury to one artist among the eighty finalists, in addition to cash prizes for winners of the five sections and the Special Galleries Prize, where six galleries – prominent in the contemporary world – and an independent space (SAC, Livorno) will each select, independently of the jury of the Prize, an artist among the finalists to start a new collaboration which it will materialize in a personal or collective exhibition in its spaces in the 2023/24 season, thus giving continuity to the discussion opened during participation in the Prize. The Poliart Award is also consolidated, which will see the leading company in the processing of expanded polystyrene support the production of a work by an artist selected among the finalists, thus reinforcing the fruitful dialogue between art, business and the local area, essential for the development and knowledge of contemporary artists.

Furthermore, on the occasion of this fourteenth edition, the prize of the Popular Jury is back, which will allow the participating public to express their preferences regarding the works in competition. With a free theme and without age restrictions, the Combat Prize, since its inception , gives voice to emerging talents and the most innovative artistic experiments, placing itself at the forefront of documenting the different paths taken by contemporary artists, their responses to the political, social and human contradictions of our contemporaneity. A method that investigates the current visual production, of international scope, freeing itself from purely commercial discourses and logics. The Combat Prize 2023 is therefore confirmed as a privileged place for convergence and reflection on the themes of Italian and international contemporary art Combat Award XIV edition Dates: 17 June – 8 July 2023