U-ART-P Brera Photo Prize

The U-Art-P Association is pleased to announce the launch of the U-ART-P Brera Photo Prize, an award dedicated to contemporary photography and to the promotion of emerging research by students of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts.

The initiative aims, on the one hand, to recognize the importance of the Academy’s educational path, as it celebrates the 250th anniversary of its foundation this year, and, on the other, to highlight the central role of photographic language within the contemporary art landscape.

The prize is the result of a collaboration between the Ultracontemporary Art Project Association aps (U-ART-P) and the Photography faculty of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, with particular focus on the Master’s Program in Photography. The U-ART-P Brera Photo Prize seeks to support and promote the most significant research by young artists who use photography as an expressive medium, offering them an important opportunity for exchange between education, collecting, and the public.

The project fosters an active dialogue among students, curators, collectors, and art professionals, creating new opportunities for interaction between the academic sphere and the professional art world. In this context, photography emerges as a privileged tool for investigating the complexity of the present, addressing themes such as identity, memory, social dynamics, and cultural transformations.

The prize highlights the work of eight artists — students of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts — selected for their originality and artistic maturity by professors Paola Di Bello, Eva Frapiccini, Cosmo Laera, and Alessandra Spranzi.

The project also represents a concrete cultural investment in the region, strengthening the dialogue between Milan, Bergamo, and the wider artistic community.

The selected artists’ works will be presented in a group exhibition at THE PLACE in Bergamo, from May 16 to September 12, 2026. The exhibition will be open by appointment with free admission throughout its duration; visitors will also be invited to participate by voting for the audience award.

The selection of the two acquisition prize winners will be entrusted to a jury composed of prominent figures in the field of contemporary art and photography: Ilaria Campioli (curator at the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia), Cristiano Cavallo (curator and cultural operator), Oliviero Falconi (collector), Tommaso Parrillo (publisher and founder of Witty Books), and Claudia Santeroni (independent curator).

During the exhibition, the jury will select two winning artists, whose works will be acquired for the U-ART-P collection, contributing to the development of an archive dedicated to emerging contemporary photography.

The winners will be announced on September 12, 2026, on the occasion of the exhibition’s closing event.