Welcome to the Social Art Award 2025 – Online Gallery!
We are grateful for the many powerful contributions from artists across the globe. The selected works reflect the diversity of contemporary social art practices and address urgent issues such as climate and water crises, social and economic inequality, migration, conflict, discrimination, and the protection of human and more-than-human life.
Below you will find the submissions from the edition of 2024/2025 that passed the initial jury round. The Online Gallery offers public visibility to these works and supports dialogue around their themes; it does not replace the final jury decision.
Thank you to all artists for sharing your inspiring and committed work. We invite you to explore the gallery and engage with the perspectives shaping the Social Art Award 2025.
SOS
Vivian Cavalieri
Traditionally, ships in danger sent an SOS ("Save Our Ship"), and persons stranded on a deserted island would put a message in a bottle and set it afloat, hoping that the ocean waves would carry that message to someone who would rescue them. But here, the sender requesting help is the sea itself, where increased acidity and rising temperatures have weakened many forms of marine life. This small (7 x 14 x 4 inches) mixed media work consists of aquamarine, hemimorphite, freshwater pearls, Murano glass, fabric, acrylic paint, mirror, glass, cold water coral, dollhouse miniatures, and a deep custom wood frame with museum glass. To accompany the exhibit of this small-scale assemblage, I envision creating an installation consisting of empty bottles into which visitors can insert messages of support for protection of the oceans, as "SOS" can equally be interpreted as "Save Our Seas".
Traditionally, ships in danger sent an SOS ("Save Our Ship"), and persons stranded on a deserted island would put a message in a bottle and set it afloat, hoping that the ocean waves would carry that message to someone who would rescue them. But here, the sender requesting help is the sea itself, where increased acidity and rising temperatures have weakened many forms of marine life. This small (7 x 14 x 4 inches) mixed media work consists of aquamarine, hemimorphite, freshwater pearls, Murano glass, fabric, acrylic paint, mirror, glass, cold water coral, dollhouse miniatures, and a deep custom wood frame with museum glass. To accompany the exhibit of this small-scale assemblage, I envision creating an installation consisting of empty bottles into which visitors can insert messages of support for protection of the oceans, as "SOS" can equally be interpreted as "Save Our Seas".