Roberto Ago criticizes VII Premio Fabbri for favoritism and plagiarism

In a scathing critique published on Artribune, critic Roberto Ago denounces the verdicts of the VII Premio Fabbri, alleging that the jury was compromised by absenteeism and favoritism. He notes that seven out of ten jurors were absent on the award night, leaving decisions to three curators present: organizer Carlo Sala and curators Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti and Marta Papini, whom he accuses of bias toward a mentioned artist. Ago argues that the winning works in the emerging art section, particularly Luca Staccioli's video "Was it me? Screen memories" (2016-17), closely resemble Camille Henrot's "Grosse Fatigue" (2013), constituting plagiarism. He also criticizes special mentions for Fabio Ranzolin (comparing his work to Tom Burr's), Ruth Beraha (whose work "Io non posso entrare (autoritratto)" he deems parasitic on serious issues), and Matteo Valerio. In the photography section, winner Mimì Enna's diptych is described as indebted to Luigi Ghirri, with a concept-driven statement masking mediocre results. Ago praises Tomaso Clavarino's photograph from the series "To never forget" (2017) as more deserving. He also critiques Massimo Ricciardo's work for inert juxtaposition and notes Claudio Beorchia's video as a curious document. Ago concludes by lamenting the dispersal of limited resources on immature research and calls for raising age limits in prizes to improve quality.