Giulio Bensasson Wins Inaugural Conai Prize for Art and Sustainability

Giulio Bensasson has won the first Premio Conai, a new award linking contemporary art to environmental sustainability, announced on May 17, 2022, at the opening of the exhibition "Arte Circolare" at Spazio Taverna. The prize is promoted by the National Packaging Consortium (Conai), chaired by Luca Ruini, which oversees recycling of over 70% of packaging in Italy. Conai also acquired works by four other artists: Lulù Nuti, Alice Paltrinieri, Numero Cromatico, and Marco Emmanuele. Bensasson's winning piece uses deteriorated photographic negatives, giving them a second life. The initiative aims to foster dialogue between art and circular economy, with plans to make the prize recurrent and involve artists in using recycled materials. Conai reports that Italy leads Europe in packaging recycling, ahead of Luxembourg and Germany, and that between 1998 and 2021, over €11 billion was invested by 700,000 member companies, avoiding 56 million tons of CO2 emissions. The consortium also promotes eco-design and collaborates with Vogue Italia on sustainable fashion.