Discover on this page the Finalists of the Driving Energy Award 2023 selected by the Jury. Their works will be exhibited at Palazzo Esposizioni Roma from 26 September to 15 October in the free access exhibition. The five winners will be announced on 26 September.
Born in Ravenna, after studying humanities (Ravenna, Venice) she moved to Amsterdam where she studied photography and worked for the ABC press archives. She then moved to Milan where she worked for a decade in major publishing houses as a photographer and photo editor. Back in Ravenna, she attended a photography course led by Guido Guidi at the Accademia di Belle Arti. Dragoni’s research investigates the language of photography and the ability of photography to interrogate the present by creating links between photography and personal experience. Her photographs are part of the collection of the V&A Museum in London.
He was born in Leonforte in 1998. He studied photography at IED Turin and ABA Catania. In 2023 he was one of the finalists for the Luigi Ghirri Prize and was selected by CAMERA for the European FUTURES Photography programme. He is co-founder of DORSOPRESS, an independent publishing house specialising in contemporary photography.
Graduate in Languages. Annamaria lived in Germany for a few years before returning to Italy, where she worked as a photographer, lecturer and curator. Her research focuses on the condition of contemporary individuals and in particular on the complex relationship with nature and the environment. In 2021, she published her book “Supernatura” with Postcart.
Freelance photographer, head of IED Rome’s photography workshops and lecturer in the Photography Direction module. He has carried out numerous personal and corporate projects for brands including Mercedes, Microsoft, Philip Morris and Telethon Foundation.
He lives and works in L’ Aquila, where he runs the ContrastiUrbani studio. He carries out projects on processes of space modification and the relationship between people, environment and time, as well as working on architectural and landscape photography.
Born in 1972, Antonio currently resides in Buccheri (Sicily). Antonio is self-taught. He began to take an interest in photography around the age of 17, focusing on portraits and travel reporting often with a social background, with a preference for analogue black-and-white photography. His photos have been published in several Italian and foreign magazines and websites (Around Photography, Vis a Vis, Brennpunkt, etc.). He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions.
Graduated in New Technologies of Art at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Arianna is currently specialising in History of Art and Performing Arts in Pisa, after attending a course in photojournalism and storytelling. Her approach to art is very mixed, ranging from video and photography, which she approaches as if it were a painting, to sewing and embroidery.
Born in 2002 in Catanzaro, she started attending the Photography course at the IED in Rome in 2021. Her artistic research is oriented towards the investigation of interpersonal relationships and their emotional dynamics. In her work, people are intimately interwoven with places, which become settings for sensitive lives.
Her work focuses on the tension between form and space. Ordinary objects and landscapes become symbols of the connection between inner reality and materiality. Working in the fields of portraiture and documentary film-making, she focuses on subtracting and reducing to the essential.
A Philosophy graduate, she lives and works between Bolzano and Venice. Her research focuses on private and collective archives, family memory, the concept of time and the ontology of photography. Her work has been exhibited in Italy and abroad. In 2022 some of her works entered the permanent collection of Bolzano’s Museion.
Claudio Gobbi has been working on long-term projects concerning the geopolitical aspects of architecture and landscape for over 20 years. His photographs are part of numerous collections, including the MAXXI in Rome and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki. He lives between Italy and Berlin.
A photography enthusiast since birth, Claudio left his business activities in 2010 to focus full-time on artistic research. He has been participating in exhibitions and art fairs for many years. His works have been published in key trade journals and publishing projects and can be found in private collections. One of his photos was installed as a public work in December 2022 in Noto on a 30-square metre wall in the form of a Digital Mosaic.
Diana Cont, born in Bolzano in 1992, grew up in Maremma and currently lives and works in Rome. After completing her studies in Biological Sciences, she focused on exploring chemistry through ceramics, cooking and photography, the means through which she was able to best express her creativity.
Dione Roach is a multidisciplinary artist living between Italy and Cameroon. Photography is her main medium, which she uses both as a means of documenting the realities around her and as a tool for more intimate and experimental research.
Edward carries out an intense research activity together with numerous exhibitions focusing on the relationship between photographic representation and the experience of space. His books include: Landscape Materials (2015), 52 Pictures (2017) and the Quaderni Sessamesi series started in 2021, now in its third volume.
Graduated in Graphic Design & Multimedia, Elisabetta is currently specialising in Art Therapy at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. She uses photography as a tool for analysing and observing her emotional world with great attention to detail.
He trained at the Polytechnic University of Milan and continued his studies at Iuav University of Venice, where he currently teaches. His photography work focuses on solo and collaborative research projects in the fields of architecture, city planning and landscape. He has recently published his work with Humboldt and Quodlibet.
Irene Facoetti (Bergamo, 1995) graduated in photography and visual communication languages at CFP Bauer in Milan. Her work focuses on introspective practice, mainly using photography combined with analysis and statistical data.
Born in 2003 in the Netherlands, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dance from 2007 to 2021. At the same time, she began training in set design, pursuing various projects. She moved to Italy to study at the RUFA in Rome. She is also an assistant to performance artist Marta Jovanović.
Karin Schmuck studied painting in Urbino and photography in Bologna. This was followed by numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad. For several years now, she has been involved in long-term projects that take her to remote places, creating photographic works, drawings and multimedia installations on the theme of borders. She lives and works in Bolzano.
Passionate about colour and image from a young age, her path led her to experiment with various artistic disciplines, from illustration to painting and film. A graduate of the Rome’s Centro Sperimentale, today Katjuscia she writes and directs short films, medium-length films and documentaries that receive awards and special mentions at national and international festivals. She experiments with the use of photography and graphic signs on apparently improper media such as wood, tissue paper, textiles and other poor materials. She enrolled in a Master’s programme in art therapy techniques to carry out educational and rehabilitation activities through art and the use of creative materials in therapeutic contexts. She is part of the CAIB (Collettivo Artisti Irregolari Bologna), exhibiting with them in group exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
Photographer and architect born in 1993. Co-founder of the webzine FA - Fotografia dell'Architettura. For years his photography research has focused on the relationship between humans and the urban landscape.
Lorenzo Pipi, Verbania, 1992. Multi-potential, photographer, content creator and social media mentor. In 2017, photography saved him from severe work-related stress and depression. In the same year, he turned photography into his career and left his day job. Awarded by Jill Mathis as the best U30 photographer in Piedmont, today his aim is to disseminate the philosophy of solitude as a means of connecting with oneself and nature through landscape photographs of Lake Maggiore.
His works with Images and Words have been published internationally (Aperture, APE, i-D, FOAM..), exhibited in solo and group shows (IIC, Viasaterna, MBAL, Triennale), won awards (Gibellina x Triennale, Prix Du Livre Arles), and are present in private and institutional collections.
Graduated from Rome’s European Institute of Design in Photography. Photography allows her to explore, interpret and connect with the world around her, capturing the soul of the places and people she meets.
Martina Zanin (1994) is a visual artist. Author of the photo book I Made Them Run Away (2021) published by Skinnerboox. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions internationally and is part of several public and private collections (FMAV, MoMA Library, Fondazione Orestiadi). She won the Camera Work and Cantica21 awards in 2021. Italian Contemporary Art Everywhere promoted by MAECI and MiC.
Class 1969 - Architect. The passion for photography, born within the Florentine university, results in a journey of investigation that reveals a strong attraction to the Essence of the subject. The human body and the space surrounding it are a constant source of inspiration.
Professional, Senior. Born in Turin, he studied at the University of Perugia and graduated in photography at the European Institute of Design in Rome, where he currently resides. After a career as a commercial photographer working for numerous Italian and foreign travel magazines, he now focuses his work on photojournalism, analysing the profound consequences of conflicts and natural disasters in society.
Photographer and curator, Massimo teaches Photography at the University of Bologna. Director of SI Fest (2009-2014), he founded OMNE in 2016 and, in the same year, was among the curators of the Venice Pavilion at the 15th Biennale. He sees photography as a tool for understanding the contemporary landscape.
Trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara. Michele’s initial research led him to tackle the language of sculpture as a tool and pretext to explore possible collaborations in different contexts and with other artists.
29 April 2004 represents the beginning of this swinging world of introspection and extroversion: at the time, photography was just a game, a way to explore a new point of view. An intelligent boy who seemed to have a promising future, who at the age of 18 was faced with an important decision: to give up everything and devote himself to expressing what had accumulated in his consciousness through photography. Now, is his photography about him or is it about you?
Photographer, artist and lecturer, Ottavio lives and works between Rome, Milan and Turin. His works have been exhibited in Italian and foreign galleries, museums and foundations. He collaborates and has collaborated with leading Italian companies on publishing projects related to Brand Identity. Among his most significant publications are: The Invisible Difference (Ed. Giuntina), 11 Stories (Ed. Carlo Cambi), Men Art Work (Ed. Nutrimenti), Nature Meccaniche (Ed. Carlo Cambi), Ottavio Celestino 2011/2022 (Tiburtini Edition).
Pino Musi is a visual artist and teacher, his work is part of a complex project of renewal of form, which finds its maximum expression in book making, in particular in the creation of artists' books. Twenty-six volumes of his images have been published so far. Original works by Pino Musi are present in private and public collections, including the Rolla Foundation and the Art Vontobel Collection in Switzerland, the FRAC (Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain) in Brittany, the MAST Foundation in Bologna, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin, the Visual Arts Foundation in Modena, and the Sardinia Foundation.
She has exhibited in various galleries and public spaces, including the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, the Centre for Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, MACTE in Termoli and the ICA Foundation in Milan. Her research develops from nature, investigating its relationship with history and culture.
Simona Filippini is interested in the evolution of Italian society. She uses photography and video to tell stories about women, new citizens and young people. Scholar and teacher of the History of Photography, she runs image education workshops with Camera21 in schools throughout Italy.
Simona Ghizzoni (1977) is a photographer and visual activist for women’s rights. Her production revolves around two major strands, which often intersect: the social dimension of women and the fantastic dimension of the self-portrait, whose recurring theme is the relationship between human beings, animals and habitats.
Simone Mizzotti, Crema 1983. Photographer and lecturer. After his studies at L.A.B.A, Libera Accademia di Belle Arti di Brescia and Fondazione Fotografia Modena (now FMAV School of Advanced Studies), he has increasingly deepened his knowledge of recent Italian photographers, dedicating his time to a personal investigation of the Italian landscape.
The Cool Couple is a duo founded at the end of 2012 by Niccolò Benetton (1986) and Simone Santilli (1987) following their meeting at the Master in Photography at NABA. Their research is based on a multidisciplinary approach to the processes of producing, sharing and interacting with images.
Tommaso Mola Meregalli (1995) lives and works in the province of Como. After graduating in architecture in Switzerland, he obtained a Master’s degree in photography in Venice in 2023.
An internationally renowned photographer, Uli studied photography in Rome and lives between London and Italy. He published his first book “Portraits” (Skira) in 2010, followed by “Goodwood Revival” (Skira) in 2014, “The Allure of Horses (Assouline)” in 2018 and “Seductions” (Il Cigno CC Editions) in 2021. He has exhibited in various galleries and museums around the world.
Born in Lucania in 1995, she graduated from the Libera Accademia di Belle Arti di Rimini and is currently enrolled in the two-year photography course at the Brera Academy. She began participating in group exhibitions in 2023. She investigates the ambiguity that can be expressed through photography.
