Shortlisted Artists for the 2017 Mario Merz Prize Announced

The artists Francesco Arena, Petrit Halilaj, Gili Lavy, Shahryar Nashat, and Suha Traboulsi have been announced as the five finalists of the art category of the second Mario Merz Prize.

Arena, Halilaj, Lavy, Nashat, and Traboulsi were selected by the artist Marisa Merz; Nicholas Cullinan, director of London’s National Portrait Gallery; and the independent curator Claudia Gioia.

The five artists will exhibit their work in a group exhibition at the Fondazione Merz in Turin, opening in March 2017.

The winner will be chosen by a jury formed by Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid; the artist Lawrence Weiner; Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of New York’s New Museum and of Milan’s Fondazione Trussardi; and Beatrice Merz.