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.
Micelium - Wood Wide Web
Tiago Amaral
Micelium - Wood Wide Web is a circular textile work, inspired by the interconnection of natural ecosystems. Created in wool, it represents a forest where trees and roots coexist, connected by a three-dimensional textile sculpture that symbolizes the micellar network – the underground system of fungi that facilitates communication and exchange of nutrients between trees. In the center of the piece, a black cork frame contains a mirror in the shape of a cell phone, referring to the parallelism between the micellar network and digital human communication systems. Just as mycelium connects trees to ensure balance and resilience, the internet connects people, but with ambivalent impacts: does it bring us closer or isolate us? The micellar network, often called the "forest internet", inspires reflection on how we relate to the world and to others. While nature fosters networks of support and sharing, technology, paradoxically, both unites and alienates. Black cork, sustainable and organic, reinforces this contrast between the digital and the natural. The mirror in the piece invites introspection: are we replicating the intelligence of the forest or moving away from our essence? Micelium - Wood Wide Web proposes a dialogue on the balance between technology and nature, suggesting that the true healing of the planet involves a reconnection with natural rhythms. The work encourages learning from living systems, promoting support and regeneration networks for a more sustainable future.
Micelium - Wood Wide Web is a circular textile work, inspired by the interconnection of natural ecosystems. Created in wool, it represents a forest where trees and roots coexist, connected by a three-dimensional textile sculpture that symbolizes the micellar network – the underground system of fungi that facilitates communication and exchange of nutrients between trees. In the center of the piece, a black cork frame contains a mirror in the shape of a cell phone, referring to the parallelism between the micellar network and digital human communication systems. Just as mycelium connects trees to ensure balance and resilience, the internet connects people, but with ambivalent impacts: does it bring us closer or isolate us? The micellar network, often called the "forest internet", inspires reflection on how we relate to the world and to others. While nature fosters networks of support and sharing, technology, paradoxically, both unites and alienates. Black cork, sustainable and organic, reinforces this contrast between the digital and the natural. The mirror in the piece invites introspection: are we replicating the intelligence of the forest or moving away from our essence? Micelium - Wood Wide Web proposes a dialogue on the balance between technology and nature, suggesting that the true healing of the planet involves a reconnection with natural rhythms. The work encourages learning from living systems, promoting support and regeneration networks for a more sustainable future.