The conceptual artist and Florentine architect Guido Mitidieri is the winner of the inaugural UAART Prize with his diptych Agony of Identity (2020). The winning artwork was selected by a professional jury of over 280 entries and seven finalists.
Promoted by the social promotion association UAAR (Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics), the aforementioned competition—which was open to all forms of visual art—aims to construct a secular imagery which surrounds themes of death and grief.
Mitidieri’s work was deemed as being worthy of the top prize by a panel which was composed of: Elena Alfonsi, art critic and cultural thanatologist; Rebecca Delmenico, art critic and curator; Andrea Lacarpia, curator, and director of the Candy Snake Gallery; and Mosè Viero, art historian and author of the Art and Reason column in the association’s magazine.
The winning artwork, aside from being awarded a purchase prize worth €3,000, has been acquired by the UAAR. In 2025, such a piece will be donated to a public farewell hall—a venue which can be either private or public devoted to non-religious funeral cereminies—where it will remain on permanent display.
The official jury statement reads: «Guido Mitidieri’s artwork is awarded for the quality of its research, as well as for its suitability regarding the context in which it will be hosted. Characterized by subtle lines that gradually densify, ultimately creating depth, the work—rendered in black ballpoint pen on plant-based cardstock exposed to sunlight—leads the viewer into a suspended, almost hypnotic dimension of calmness which is capable of bringing solace during the delicate moment that is mourning. There is an interplay between black and white, which symbolically reflects the duality of existence, which appears to overlap in Mitidieri’s diptych; in a way reminiscent of the Tao symbol, where opposing forces integrate harmoniously. Through abstraction, the artist was able to evoke the unfathomable threshold that is encapsulated by the work’s title: Agony of Identity».
Moreover, the jury awarded a special mention to Roman artist Silvio Giannini for his piece The First Night of Peace. Regarding this artwork, the jury praised «the technical precision with which the artist achieved soft tonal transitions. Despite his young age (born in 1998), the artist demonstrates not only a well-structured approach, but also a recognizable one. An approach where metaphysical imagery meets a skilled balance of fullness and emptiness, light and shadow. In the competition piece,the theme of mourning opens itself to multiple interpretations. Thus, unlocking the gates of imagination».
«With the announcement of the winner, we reach the final stages of the first edition of a project born from the idea of installing a work of art permanently in a symbolic place of impermanence—the farewell hall» stated Enrica Berselli, UAAR’s Events Manager. «I thank the association for believing in and investing in this prize, the jury for their invaluable selection work, as well as all the visual artists who responded to UAAR’s call and sent works our way that adequately encapsulate the diversity of approaches and emotions that surround the themes of death and mourning. These are universal experiences for all living beings, yet they are evoked through images that are always different and often surprising».
«I express great satisfaction and deep pride in the results achieved by the first edition of the UAART Prize» added Maria Pacini, head of UAAR’s Unique Ceremonies project. «The extraordinary participation of artists and the attention that was shown by some municipal administrators to secular venues for non-religious farewells are clear signs of a significant shift underway. We are inevitably witnessing what is the development of a vision of death; a vision free from dogmatic constraints and religious references, deeply rooted in universal human values».
Through this initiative, the UAAR underscores the need for dignified farewell halls, well-distributed throughout the country. This would ensure that everyone truly has the right to a secular funeral in a suitable and well-maintained space.
Founded in 1987, the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics represents the various interests of atheists and agnostics and defends the secularism of the state. Such an organization is entirely independent of political parties.
For more information regarding the competition or the association, please visit www.uaar.it.
Guido Mitidieri
Born in Florence on January 14, 1990, shortly following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Guido Mitidieri is the second of four children born to a mechanical engineer and a philosophy teacher. In 2015, Mitidieri graduated in Architecture from the University of Florence and the following year, in 2016, Mitidieri moved to Finland to pursue a master’s degree in wood architecture at Aalto University. Over the following two years, Mitidieri worked with renowned Finnish architectural firms, notably the Casagrande Laboratory in Helsinki, whilst also exploring Finnish forests «with the sole aim of being discovered by colors».
During the aforementioned period, Mitidieri began creating abstract conceptual works at the intersection of visual and environmental art and architecture. His work has been showcased in public exhibitions and earned several awards. In 2021, he obtained a degree in Thanatology from the University of Padua (Master in Death Studies and the End of Life). Mitidieri currently lives and works in his home studio in Montale, Tuscany, alongside his partner. «The gravest wrong you can do to someone is not asking them to open what they don’t want to be opened, but closing it without giving them the keys». (Guido Mitidieri)
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