COLOMBIAN ARTIST NOHEMÍ PÉREZ WINS THE THIRD EDITION OF THE FPT FOR SUSTAINABLE ART AWARD, A PROJECT SPONSORED BY FPT INDUSTRIAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH ARTISSIMA
COLOMBIAN ARTIST NOHEMÍ PÉREZ WINS THE THIRD EDITION OF THE FPT FOR SUSTAINABLE ART AWARD, A PROJECT SPONSORED BY FPT INDUSTRIAL IN ASSOCIATION WITH ARTISSIMA
FPT Industrial, the Iveco Group’s global powertrain brand, announces, in association with Artissima 2022, the winner of the third edition of the FPT for Sustainable Art Award, a prize created with the mission of promoting the commitment to sustainability through projects linked to contemporary art by rewarding the artist whose work has stood out on the art scene for its strong focus on the environment in all its various aspects.
This year the project highlights the issue of Carbon Neutrality, an urgent topic of very strong current interest which is a shared goal at the global level in the attempt to combat the climate crisis in coming years.
Artist Nohemí Pérez, exhibiting at Artissima with the mor charpentier gallery, was selected for her work Apuntes para quemas by an international jury comprising Hélèn Guenin, Director of MAMAC – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice, Markus Reymann, Co-founder and Director of TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary of Vienna, a cultural no-profit organization that promotes interdisciplinary dialog and exchange on the most pressing environmental questions, and artist Gian Maria Tosatti, star of the Italian Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale.
“Colombian artist Nohemí Pérez explores the tensions of her native area, Catatumbo, on the border between Venezuela and Colombia, by representing the species on the verge of extinction and the destruction caused by mining and social conflicts,” the jury declared. “The inclusion of charcoal as a medium in her works embodies the area’s relationships with the mines. Pérez makes dramatic use of this material to express her deep roots in the territory she aims to defend. At the mor charpentier gallery, Nohemí Pérez has found a natural artistic ecosystem that consistently supports good environmental practices.”
The prize reflects concerns close to the heart of the company which, specializing in the design and production of engines for the industrial sector – including commercial vehicles, agricultural equipment, power generators –, for the marine market and for electric mobility, prioritizes innovation in its constant research into the protection of the most fragile ecosystems.
“We are delighted that the FPT for Sustainable Art Award has now reached its third edition,” states Carlo Moroni, Head of Communication at FPT Industrial. “Three years ago we launched this prize to promote our company’s commitment to the development of more and more sustainable industrial processes and products. It is now clear that our consolidated partnership with Artissima is very successful in rewarding a focus within contemporary art on the issues we highlight in our products.”
The brand and group’s first Carbon Neutral ePowertrain plant, opened in Turin in October, is a major step in this direction and is entirely dedicated to the production of the brand’s electric range - e-axles, central drives and battery packs for commercial vehicles, minibuses and buses. The plant is an important part of the plan to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2040, meaning to reduce its products’ carbon emissions in all its industrial operations to zero.
“We view slashing carbon emissions as a major commitment in terms of corporate responsibility,” declares Egle Panzella, Sustainability Manager of FPT Industrial. “Our new ePowertrain plant is a fundamental step in this process, and this is why we have also chosen to highlight it in our partnership with Artissima: Nohemí Pérez’s work is a fine interpretation of the underlying concept of this year’s prize.”
FPT INDUSTRIAL’S SUPPORT FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
FPT Industrial began its engagement with contemporary art in 2019 by becoming Main Sponsor of the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale and promoting the installation Consider yourself as a guest (Cornucopia), conceived by American artist Christian Holstad to focus attention on the serious problem of the pollution of the seas and oceans. Presented at the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, the work was exhibited at Artissima in the same year, welcoming visitors to the show.
The partnership with Artissima continued the following year with the establishment of the FPT for Sustainable Arts Award, won in 2020 by Renato Leotta for his work Mare – which represented a unique relationship between the environment and the artistic process – and in 2021 by Dutch artist Lennart Lahuis for When is it that we feel change in the air, an installation in which industrial objects become part of the artwork in combination with natural elements such as water.
In 2022 the company was also Technical Sponsor of the Italian Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. In fact, the exhibition entitled Storia della Notte e Destino delle Comete [History of Night and Destiny of Comets] – by artist Gian Maria Tosatti with an environmental installation by Eugenio Viola –, which investigated the relationship between man and nature and encouraged reflection on the current state of humanity and its future prospects, explicitly referred to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the action plan for people, the planet and prosperity signed by the 193 UN member states in 2015.