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- 10 - 19
Exhibition Total Value:
- $60k - $70k
Until 28 June 2026, the Yacht Club Venezia presents ARTIVISM AWARDS IV – Ocean Preservation Awareness: A Discovery Expedition, an exhibition organized as part of Venice Climate Week that brings together contemporary art, scientific research and environmental activism in a reflection on marine ecosystems and the future of the oceans.
Conceived by curator Diana von Hohenthal und Bergen, the project extends beyond the exhibition format to become a research expedition inspired by a ten-day Mediterranean crossing aboard the sailing yacht Kyalami. Bringing together artists, scientists and conservationists, it explores the ocean as a physical, political and symbolic space while fostering new forms of dialogue between art and environmental responsibility.
The fourth edition of the Artivism Awards recognized artist and photographer Kurt Arrigo with the Artivism Lion for his longstanding commitment to ocean conservation and marine biodiversity. Arrigo presents The Blue Thread, a photographic series created for One Ocean Foundation that reveals the beauty and fragility of underwater ecosystems through powerful subaquatic imagery. His work will also be exhibited at Art Miami Fairs – Aqua Art in December 2026.
The exhibition also features works by Joanna Adams, whose video project The Future is Wild combines scientific research and speculative imagination; Dodi Reifenberg, who transforms plastic recovered from the oceans into layered artworks addressing contemporary pollution; Lilo M. R. Hansen, focusing on the realities of underwater labour and offshore oil expansion; and photographer Vera van Leeuwen, whose project Calypso 2026 AD draws on the historical and mythological landscapes of Malta and Gozo.
More immersive and contemplative perspectives are offered by Marcy Axelrod, with her sculptural installation Ocean Creatures; Lavenair, whose unaltered photographs of the Mediterranean evoke an intimate experience of the sea; Alexandra Mas, presenting Mystic Waters, a project that reflects on environmental crisis through drawing, video and performance; and Sarah Olson, whose performative work Rise All Boats explores the relationship between body, matter and the marine landscape.
Through these diverse artistic approaches, Ocean Preservation Awareness transforms observation into shared experience and awareness into collective responsibility, reaffirming the growing international relevance of the Artivism Awards and their ability to connect art, research and environmental action.
Curator :
Joanna Adams is a British creative producer and conceptual designer working at the intersection of environmental storytelling, speculative ecology and visual media. She is known for The Future Is Wild (1996), a multimedia project exploring the evolution of life and ecosystems under conditions of planetary transformation. Her practice combines imagination and science to investigate possible futures and processes of environmental change.
Maltese photographer and environmentalist Kurt Arrigo has dedicated over forty years to the sea and underwater ecosystems. Raised in the Mediterranean and active in diving from an early age, he has developed a practice that documents the fragility of marine environments through images that combine visual research with ecological awareness.
Marcy Axelrod is an American multidisciplinary artist working across abstract expressionism, installation and research into perceptual and emotional systems. Through transparent structures, suspended elements and layered forms, she creates immersive works that reflect on the relationships between individuals, environments and collective systems.
Lill Maria Rosita Hansen is a visual artist working across performance, installation and experimental cinema. With a background in architecture and fine arts, her practice explores the relationship between body and space, constructing environments and performative actions that investigate transformation, presence and perception.
French visual artist Christopher Lavenair works between painting and photography. Trained in Paris and London, he develops a practice focused on colour, light and the transformation of matter. Over time, his work has increasingly engaged with natural landscapes and aquatic environments, favouring processes free from digital manipulation.
Franco-Romanian visual artist and performer Alexandra Mas develops an interdisciplinary practice spanning drawing, art film, installation and immersive media. With more than thirty years of activity, her research focuses on gesture, perception and processes of accumulation that expand across space and time.
American painter, performer and curator Sarah Olson develops a practice that intertwines environmental awareness, collective memory and relationships with water. Her work combines painting, installation and performance, integrating natural processes, found materials and collaborative approaches.
Israeli-born, Berlin-based artist and winner of the third Artivism Awards, Dodi Reifenberg has been working since the 1990s on transforming plastic waste into complex visual structures. Using a micro-mosaic technique made from recovered plastic bags, his work addresses themes of environment, consumption and sustainability.
Vera van Leeuwen is a visual artist working between photography and research. Trained in Rotterdam, she develops long-term projects focused on landscape and processes of environmental transformation. Her work engages with documentary traditions, emphasizing observation, duration and territorial inquiry.
S.Elena 1, Venice, Italy 30132
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