The 2025 edition of Unpublished Photo, the photography competition in Lugano promoted by the Culture and Museums Foundation (FCM) and by the Museum of Cultures (MUSEC), confirms the project's centrality in the visual art landscape aimed at new generations. For five years, the initiative has served as a privileged platform for observing the latest trends in art photography, with an approach that combines training, experimentation, and curatorial vision.
The international jury awarded first prize ex aequo to two authors: Ukrainian Nurlana Udovenko (1997), who explored the theme of suspension through a conceptual project on boredom, and Lithuanian Titas Valionis (2000), who transformed parkour into a photographic language of lines, trajectories, and aerial leaps. Completing the podium were German Mariangela Pfahler (1998), with an abstract work born from the casual interaction between light and household objects, and Italian Anouk Andrea Boni (2002), who placed the tree at the center of a reflection on time, loss, and the metamorphosis of nature.
The exhibition at Villa Malpensata
From December 4, 2025, to April 12, 2026, the Spazio Maraini at Villa Malpensata will host a selection of six images from each winning portfolio, accompanied by biographical notes and the research context that guided the artists. The exhibition, curated by Alessia Borellini, will offer a concentrated yet in-depth journey, while the entire body of projects—ten photographs each—is collected in a bilingual catalog published by Edizioni FCM.
The competition, originally conceived by the Milanese gallery 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS, was formally established in 2020 thanks to collaboration with the FCM and MUSEC. Since then, it has helped build a growing archive that now exceeds 40.000 works, ranging from the 19th century to contemporary photography.
A global participation
The 2025 edition attracted more than two hundred young photographers from thirty-five countries, with a particularly significant presence of Italian, Chinese, and Australian candidates. The age range—18 to 30—allows the competition to serve as a privileged observatory for emerging creativity.
The jury, meeting in Venice at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, selected the four finalist projects from a wide variety of approaches and languages. Chaired by German photographer Hans Georg Berger, the panel included Francesco Paolo Campione, Eugenio Calini, Giovanna Palandri, Angelica Sella, and Tiziana Serena. The two joint winners were awarded 2.000 francs each, while 500 francs went to the third and fourth place winners.
In addition to the financial reward, the publication of the catalogue and the exhibition represent an opportunity for all the finalists to gain significant visibility on the international art circuit.
The awarded projects
Nurlana Udovenko — Boredom
The Ukrainian photographer's work addresses the theme of boredom as a mental space, rather than a passive condition. Inviting subjects to sit for an hour without distractions, Udovenko then transformed the video of the sessions into a photographic surface obtained through exposure on sensitive paper. Each image condenses the entire duration of that hour into a single, evanescent presence: a way to reflect on the value of suspended time.
Titas Valionis — Artists That Can Fly
From his personal experience in parkour, Valionis has developed a photographic language that captures movement as a creative gesture. The images, taken during gatherings and meetings in various Lithuanian cities, capture the athletes' energy, transforming their acrobatic maneuvers into a kind of urban calligraphy.
Mariangela Pfahler — vertebrae
A random reflection of light gave rise to a project exploring the possibilities of abstraction. Photographing reflections and electrical cables illuminated by multicolored LEDs, Pfahler then inverted and manipulated the images until they resembled organic structures: bones, cellular networks, imaginary anatomical elements. A study in the metamorphosis of the ordinary into vision.
Anouk Andrea Boni — Naked mortal wound
Inspired by the mists of the Po Valley and the literature of Hermann Hesse, Boni focuses her narrative on felled trees: symbols of an interrupted life cycle, but also silent guardians of a surviving memory. The connection with Mario Giacomelli's poetic photography emerges in the tension between abstraction and documentation.
A growing platform
Alongside the exhibition, MUSEC will organize meetings and collateral events dedicated to photography enthusiasts. The next edition of the competition will open in autumn 2026: interested parties can follow the museum's social media channels (IG @museclugano and FB MusecLugano) for updates and to submit your application via the dedicated form, available on the website of the Culture and Museums Foundation.
