Rossella Biscotti and Adelita Husni-Bey Win Top Prizes at Rome Quadriennale

The 16th Quadriennale d'arte di Roma awarded its two main prizes to women for the first time in the event's history. Rossella Biscotti won the Premio Quadriennale 16 (€20,000) for her site-specific work 'Il viaggio', featuring a photograph of a nautical chart tracing a route from Libya to Sicily, accompanied by text on migration laws and a marble block won at the 2010 Biennale di Carrara. Adelita Husni-Bey received the Premio illy Under 35 (€15,000) for 'Agency – Giochi di potere' (2014), a video documenting a workshop in a Rome high school where students role-played professional categories during a mock election campaign. Special mentions went to Alek O and Quayola. Franco Bernabè, President of the Fondazione La Quadriennale, noted the contrast with the first edition's three women participants. Biscotti described her work as addressing migration and pollution, while Husni-Bey praised the exhibition's focus on curatorial projects but noted a slight overshadowing of artists.