Edition 5

Mario Merz Prize 5th edition

MOHAMED BOUROUISSA (ART SECTION) AND NATALIA DOMÍNGUEZ RANGEL (MUSIC SECTION)

ARE THE WINNERS OF THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE MARIO MERZ PRIZE

Beatrice Merz, President of the Fondazione Merz, announced the winners of the fifth edition of the Mario Merz Prize, the only international award for art and music: Mohamed Bourouissa (Art section) and Natalia Domínguez Rangel (Music section).

Mohamed Bourouissa was chosen from Elena Bellantoni, Anna Franceschini, Voluspa Jarpa and Agnes Questionmark by a jury composed of the public and Caroline Bourgeois (Curator of the Pinault Collection, Paris), Manuel Borja-Villel (author and independent curator), Massimiliano Gioni (Artistic Director of the New Museum, New York – Artistic Director of the Fondazione Trussardi, Milan) and Beatrice Merz.

Natalia Domínguez Rangel was chosen from Arturo Corrales and Luigi Morleo by a jury composed of the public and Thomas Demenga (cellist and composer), Philip Samartzis (sound artist and professor Melbourne University), Helena Winkelman (violinist and composer) and Willy Merz (composer and conductor).

The jury of the Art section unanimously decided to award Mohamed Bourouissa with the following motivation:

For Mohamed Bourouissa, art carries an energetic charge… and it is precisely through this force that his work becomes a catalyst for transformation. When he reflects and creates, he does so in solitude – an essential condition that allows things to unfold and come to him: it is the world itself that collaborates with him. Art, for him, has a social role; it belongs to society, and his projects seek depth of meaning by offering us pathways of listening and observation. He opens our eyes to the aggression that lurks within a society standardised by behaviours and representations. In everyday objects, gestures and movements, he reveals the unrest of accumulated violence. He highlights not only the great upheavals of society and politics, but also the micro-phenomena of brutality that usually go unnoticed.

Each project becomes an opportunity for him to navigate the shifting balance between freedom and control.

As the winning artist Mohamed Bourouissa will have the opportunity to create a personal exhibition project at the Fondazione Merz in 2027.

The jury of the Music section unanimously decided to award Natalia Domínguez Rangel with the following motivation:

The music jury expressed particular appreciation for the work of Natalia Domínguez Rangel, which develops an original exploration of the porous boundaries between body and environment. The jury chose to reward her research for its refined sound design, the quality of its spatial and immersive construction, and its focus on permeability and transformation.

Natalia Domínguez Rangel will be commissioned to create a piece for string orchestra or for solo instrument and string orchestra, or alternatively for the design of the soundtrack for a space.

Agnes Questionmark, CHM13hTERT, 2023_photo A. Guermani
Anna Franceschini, All Those Stuffed Shirts, 2023_photo A. Guermani
Elena Bellantoni, "On the breadline", 2019, video 4k
Voluspa Jarpa, The Extinction project, 2025_photo A. Guermani
Exhibition view
Agnes Questionmark, CHM13hTERT, 2023_photo A. Guermani
Anna Franceschini, Smooth Operator n.4, 2022_photo A. Guermani
Elena Bellantoni, On The Breadline, 2020_photo A. Guermani
Mohamed Bourouissa, Généalogie de la Violence, Film, 2024 (c) Mohamed Bourouissa. Courtesy de l’artiste et de Mennour, Paris / Production: Division

Shortlist Art exhibition Mario Merz Prize ed. 5

Curated by Giulia Turconi

Fondazione Merz, 11 June – 21 September 2025

From Wednesday 11 June to Sunday 21 September 2025, the Fondazione Merz in Turin will present the shortlist Art exhibition of the fifth edition of the Mario Merz Prize curated by Giulia Turconi.

The protagonists of the exhibition are Elena Bellantoni (Rome, Italy, 1975), Mohamed Bourouissa (Blida, Algeria, 1978), Anna Franceschini (Pavia, Italy, 1979), Voluspa Jarpa (Rancagua, Chile, 1971) and Agnes Questionmark (Rome, Italy, 1995).

The exhibition unfolds in a journey that spans the different works presented who stand out from each other in terms of their artistic research and choice of materials, yet share certain themes, such as a focus on the body and important current social issues. The works presented offer a total immersion for the visitor, who is invited to search for his own interpretation of contemporary society, which for each artist focuses on a specific aspect and different nuance.

The exploration begins with Elena Bellantoni’s video installation, an important and significant reflection on popular uprisings, particularly in four countries linked by the breadline, the ‘bread road’ where this takes on a social and cultural significance. In Agnes Questionmark’s installation, the artist puts her own body on the line, turning it into a political vehicle that challenges the power relations within our current society. Voluspa Jarpa welcomes the audience into a synaesthetic experience to discover the different elements that make up her work, in which sight and hearing evoke events and their reverberations between the past, present and future. Anna Franceschini returns to the image of the body represented in the form of a machine. Here too, movement is fundamental, linking back to its cinematic nature, with the aim of confirming that cinema and its illusion can also be found elsewhere. Finally, Mohamed Bourouissa confirms the focus on the body and social issues as the undisputed protagonists of the exhibition. In his video work, the artist explores the notion of control, the expropriation of the body and relationships of domination within the state. This reflection is then given concrete form through cast aluminium sculptures in which the traces and actions that the body undergoes are evoked, releasing long-held tension.

Through different forms and expressions, the exhibition becomes a hub for a renewed reflections and critiques on contemporary society, a place for discussion and open dialogue.

The Art shortlist for the Mario Merz Prize, announced in May 2024, was selected by Samuel Gross (Special Project Manager at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva), Claudia Gioia (independent curator) and Beatrice Merz (President of the Fondazione Merz).

The final jury together with the public vote will select the winner of this fifth edition.

Until September 21, 2025, the public will be able to participate actively in the selection of the winning artist by expressing its preference by clicking here. The public’s vote will be in addition to that of the final jury.

The winner will have the opportunity to create a personal exhibition project commissioned and produced by Fondazione Merz.

Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Arturo Corrales, photo Pietro Motisi
Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Arturo Corrales, photo Pietro Motisi
Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Luigi Morleo, photo Pietro Motisi
Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Luigi Morleo, photo Pietro Motisi
Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Natalia Domínguez Rangel, photo Pietro Motisi
Concerto dei finalisti ed.5 | Natalia Domínguez Rangel, photo Pietro Motisi

Shortlist concert Mario Merz Prize ed. 5

Sunday 29th June 2025, 6:30 pm

Ulmo Planeta, Sambuca di Sicilia (AG)

Arturo Corrales, Alfaque Rojo 3

Natalia Domínguez Rangel, Oozing (sound project)

Luigi Morleo, Ethnics NO BORDER

Ensemble WADI

Emanuele Anzalone, clarinet

Nicola Mogavero, saxophones

Mario Romeo, accordion
Roberta Casella, harp

Sergio Calì, percussions

Marco Badami, violin

Alessio Corrao, viola
Paolo Pellegrino, cello

Dario Ammirata, double bass

Salvatore Barberi, conductor

In collaboration with Planeta Cultura

The works of the shortlisted composers was presented in Sambuca di Sicilia (AG) in the historic Baglio of the Planeta family’s Ulmo estate, as part of a sound path linked to the diversity of landscapes, character and expressions in the Mediterranean entitled Communis Tarab.

The protagonists of this path are the and musicians of WADI, the creative musical incubator of the Merz Foundation that connects the best young Sicilian talents with the looks and sound visions of the contemporary, “Gian Matteo Rinaldo” marching band and DJ MAI MAI MAI.

Until September 21, 2025, the public will be able to participate actively in the selection of the winning composer by expressing its preference by clicking here. The public’s vote will be in addition to that of the final jury.

Arturo Corrales | Alfaque Rojo 3
for violin, baritone saxophone, percussion and amplified accordion

Alfaque Rojo 3 evokes the disturbing power of the undertow (Spanish: “alfaque”). Composed in El Salvador-where the sea is the pivotal element in the spirit of the place-it is an act of reconnection with the power of oceanic motions. Opposing tides, in the form of contrasting rhythms, generate struggling sonic cycles, like dancing currents, then converge into three eddies (“remolinos”): the first erupts energetically, before dissolving into a slow-motion dispersion; the second swings statically past the undertow flowing into the third, an ascent into a high-speed Metal fury. Influenced by the polyrhythmic aggression of the Metal band Meshuggah, the track invites the overcoming of the initial fear of complexity to dive into a marine immersion, meditative and intense.

Natalia Domínguez Rangel | OOZING
immersive multichannel sound piece (8 channels)

Voice (Soprano): Vida Matičič

Field recordings: Heike Vester, Félix Blume, Pablo Desirens, Natalia Domínguez Rangel

OOZING is a sound installation that investigates the porosity of boundaries between body and environment through aquatic imagery. It combines environmental and vocal recordings with recordings made through special microphones either in the artist’s body or in rivers, seas or pools. It is an invitation to immerse oneself in a welcoming, relational, visceral and meditative place, where sounds drip, flow, permeate the space, sealing the fusion between self and sea, voice and liquid element, water and breath, towards a new ecological and feminist awareness.

Luigi Morleo | Ethnics NO BORDER
for clarinet, baritone saxophone, percussion, violin, viola, cello, double bass

Ethnics NO BORDER is an ensemble composition that is part of a large project of several works for different ensembles. The complete NO BORDER project is a statement to the awareness of non-boundary; of the futility of boundary construction. In this specific work it is intended to emphasize the coexistence of ethnicities: different ethnicities can coexist as different musical forms and artistic expressions coexist.

The shortlisted composers Arturo Corrales (El Salvador), Natalia Domínguez Rangel (Colombia/Netherlanda) and Luigi Morleo (Italy) have been selected by Davide Bandieri (Clarinet Solo Orchestre de Chambre, Lausanne), Gianluca Cangemi (composer, sound artist and curator, Sicily), Diego Chenna (professor chamber music Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg).

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