ALA Art Prize 2025 invites artists to explore current and urgent themes of our present freely through a cross-sectional and interdisciplinary approach typical of contemporary art practices.

The 1st Prize, open to artists regardless of age, is complemented by an Acquisition Prize dedicated to those under 35 years of age.

The project Flatland takes shape in the entrance hall of ALA’s headquarters, starting from a collection of doormats that have reached the end of their useful life. Alek O. chose to preserve their original shape and assemble them into a single plane that entirely covers the floor: a surface that becomes an inlay, a trace of the wear left by thousands of footsteps, and the physical place of welcome.

The title refers to Edwin A. Abbott’s 1884 novel of the same name: a two-dimensional non-place inhabited by geometric figures, which invites reflection on the threshold between outside and inside, between surface and depth. Flatland thus transforms ALA’s entrance into a self-portrait of the space: the threshold is no longer merely a point of passage, but a moment in which the act of crossing becomes an experience.

In dialogue with the installation, two luminous sculptures from the series Ehi Siri, Lumos (2023–2025 and 2024) appear—compositions of modified ceiling lights that, once static wall and ceiling lights, have now landed like mini flying saucers ready for their next takeoff.

With this site-specific intervention, Alek O. revisits the tradition of the readymade and weaves it into the architectural and operational context of the company, assigning the materials a new symbolic and collective role.

Distanza di sicurezza 00 balances two magnetic strips mounted on an aluminum frame. The work emerges from a dialectical tension, from a process in which encounter becomes collision, and vice versa.

In the research of Giulia Ciappi and Marco Frassinelli, relationship becomes a field of investigation, and interaction with the other is understood as a radical and transformative act. This interaction manifests as an unresolved tension, a precarious balance that simultaneously contains safety and uncertainty, attraction and resistance

Beetle Shield in Green presents a symmetrical structure that evokes an insect’s carapace or a protective device. The work revolves around a reflection on the body as a relational and vulnerable space, in which armor-as-shield becomes a metaphor for a transforming skin—poised between defense, identity, and contact with the other: a protective apparatus that interweaves material, body, and memory through hybrid techniques and sensitive surfaces.

In her practice, Maria Positano investigates the theme of armor as a fluid symbol, working with papier-mâché, waxes, textiles, and recycled materials to propose new readings of the concepts of protection and identity.