Results announced for the Apprentis Collectionneurs 2025

Les Apprentis collectionneurs 2025. ©Direction de la Communication / Manuel Vitali

Launched in 2017 and supported by SOGEDA, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco’s Les Apprentis Collectionneurs or “Apprentice Collectors” educational programme aims to familiarise teenagers with contemporary art and the role of collecting for an art museum.

For the ninth year running, final-year arts students at Lycée Albert I, accompanied by their teacher Jean-Guy Cuomo and the NMNM’s Visitor Manager Benjamin Laugier, took part in a series of events, discussions, visits and workshops throughout the year.

This year, 24 students attended ARCOmadrid, one of Europe’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs. They conducted research and selected one or more works by the same artist with an acquisition budget of €20,000.

On Wednesday 26 March, the students presented and defended their choices before a panel on which sat H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, Chair of the NMNM’s acquisition committee; Daniela Memmo d’Amelio, a major patron of the museum, member of the acquisitions committee and sponsor of the 2025 programme; Hélène Audiffren, fine arts advisor at the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional culture authority (Direction régionale des Affaires culturelles Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur); the artist Francisco Tropa; Jean-Philippe Vinci, Director of Education, Youth and Sport (Monaco); Célia Bernasconi, Chief Curator at the NMNM, and Björn Dahlström, Director of the NMNM.

The students presented works that illustrated their interest in major contemporary issues such as climate change, post-colonialism, identity and migration.

This year, three works by Peter Fend were added to the NMNM collection: Global Warming (2025) – lightbox, Azioni Sulla Terra (2024) – a series of 18 drawings, and Oasi con linee del volo (2025) – print and pencil on paper. The works, presented by Clara Oliveria Mendes, were acquired from the Pinksummer Gallery in Genoa.The work of Peter Fend (born in 1950 in Columbus, Ohio, United States) blends art and science and fits perfectly into the NMNM’s research scope.

The American artist, who combines activism, art history, sculpture, architecture and design, earned himself a name in the 1970s for his initiatives and works to raise awareness and take concrete action to fight environmental and geopolitical problems. Map images are a frequent source of inspiration, including Oasi con linee di volo (2024), which depicts every oasis where birds stop in the northern half of Africa on their migration routes, and Azioni Sulla Terra (2024), which represents a series of land conquests undertaken during armed conflicts that have reshaped the borders of the States involved.

Global Warming (2025), a recent version of an over 6.5-metre-long work created in 1999 in the wake of numerous events around the globe signalling the reality of global warming, is a lightbox that is a sculptural reminder of Ed Ruscha’s famous Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963) and pictorial echo of his Standard Station. Using the shape and colours of Exxon Mobile’s petrol station signs, this installation challenges viewers on a major contemporary problem while directly pointing to one of the main causes.

Honourable mention went to Joséphine Giordano for the quality of her presentation.

In previous years, the programme has enabled the acquisition of works by Andreas Angelidakis, Mark Dion, Rita Ferreira, Carsten Höller, Pierre Joseph, Katia Kameli, Anton Kannemeyer, David Medalla, Mika Rottenberg and Xavier Theunis.