The Mart hosts the tenth edition of the VAF Prize, established by the German foundation of the same name to support young Italian art.

While the Prize enables the Foundation to expand its holdings with purchases of recognised quality, it also promotes innovative positions in contemporary art and presents them to the public in Italy and Germany. In fact, the project will first stop at the Stadtgalerie in Kiel, Germany, from 15 June to 1 September 2024 and then at the Mart from 28 September 2024 to 9 February 2025.

The pre-selection of artists, carried out for the first time on the digital platform of the Foundation's website, resulted in the evaluation of more than a hundred applications. Following careful examination of the various artistic positions, the Scientific Committee of the VAF Foundation chose the names of the 13 finalists for the exhibition: Adriano Annino, Antonio Barbieri, Chiara Calore, Valentina Diena, Roberto Fanari, Debora Garritani, Teresa Giannico, Jacopo Ginanneschi, Monica Mazzone, Alessandro Nanni, Davide Quartucci, Michele Tajariol, Beatrice Taponecco.

Like last year, the VAF Foundation will award a first prize worth Euro 15,000, a second prize worth Euro 7,500, and a third prize worth Euro 5,000. In addition to the cash prize, the winner is eligible for the competing work to be acquired, becoming part of the VAF Foundation Collection.

Alongside the prize for young artists, the VAF-Stiftung will also present a Lifetime Achievement Prize this year, restricted to artists documented in the Foundation's large, encyclopaedic collection of Italian art. A tribute to long-standing artists that this year will present works in the VAF collection by Marcello Morandini, an artist, architect, designer and one of the most important representatives of Arte Concreta in Europe. For the exhibition, a catalogue will be published in a trilingual Italian, German and English edition documenting all the works on show. The eagerly awaited award ceremony for the winning artists will be held at the Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto.