In 2026, the exhibition of the finalists of the 8th edition of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Sculpture Prize will take place, reconceived and curated on this occasion together with Fondazione ICA Milano.

Bronwyn Katz (1993 – Kimberley, South Africa), Dan Lie (1988), Công Tùng Trương (1986 – Dak Lak, Vietnam), Luana Vitra (1995 – Contagem, Brazil), and Yu Ji (1985 – Shanghai, China) are invited to present a new work in a group exhibition scheduled at Fondazione ICA Milano from 13 April to 10 July 2026, curated by Federico Giani and Chiara Nuzzi.

In 2026, the Fondazione’s public program, with the festival ORIZZONTE | Parole, immagini e musica per edificare il futuro curated by Giovanni Caccamo, will host PIF, Stefano Accorsi, Tananai, and Agadez.

The festival thus reaffirms the Foundation's desire to be an open cultural laboratory, capable of engaging diverse audiences and looking to the future through the comparison of artistic and human experiences.

It is also announced that, to relive the emotions of past festival events, a podcast will be launched on all digital platforms, with each episode dedicated to a guest from previous editions.

Main sponsor: Alessia Zanelli

Photo Francesco Mazzei, Gianni Morandi and Giovanni Caccamo during an ORIZZONTE event, 2025.

Comprising approximately 5,000 volumes and 100 series of periodicals collected by the artist throughout his life as a tool for study and inspiration, the Maestro's library will be transferred to the University's Library of Art History, Music and Performing Arts, which will catalogue it and ensure its public and free use, creating a special Arnaldo Pomodoro Collection.

Photo Archive Arnaldo Pomodoro, Arnaldo Pomodoro's art history library set up between 2005 and 2011 in the former headquarters of the Foundation in Via Solari, Milan.

As a high institutional honor to Arnaldo Pomodoro, recognized as a prominent figure in the country’s culture, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will issue a coin dedicated to him, which will be produced by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato as part of the Numismatic Collection ’26.

Photograph by ©SALVOGALANO

To ensure the integrity of data and due diligence activities, the Foundation will initiate the registration of the Catalogue Raisonné on the blockchain, entrusting its development to Officinebit.ch, in collaboration with the Foundation’s legal firm.

The project will be integrated into the Swiss Ledger infrastructure, the Swiss institutional blockchain based in Lugano, making the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation the first concrete case of using this platform for the certification of artworks, with high standards of security, traceability, and data protection.

Photo by Carlo Orsi, Pomodoro overlooking the Cortile della Pigna at the Vatican Museums, 1990

The 2026 exhibition program of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation will continue in the second half of the year with a show at its premises, located at Via Vigevano 3, dedicated to the Foundation’s Collection. Through works by other artists and archival materials, the public will be able to discover the many stories of friendship and collaboration that connected Arnaldo Pomodoro with key figures of Italian and international art of the late twentieth century (Lucio Fontana, Gastone Novelli, Alighiero Boetti, Louise Nevelson, Rufino Tamayo…), as well as the history of the Foundation and its Collection.

Photo Arnaldo Pomodoro Archive, Alighiero Boetti, Senza titolo (1978), Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro Collection

In 2026, the dialogue with Sicily is renewed—a place dear to the artist, with which he maintained an intense and long-standing relationship, marked by projects, theatrical productions, friendships, and public works.

A collaboration will be launched between the Foundation’s Educational Department and the Museo delle Trame Mediterranee in Gibellina on the occasion of the city’s designation as Capital of Contemporary Art 2026. On the same occasion, the Festival delle Orestiadi pays tribute to Arnaldo Pomodoro through an original project: four performances spanning music, dance, and theatre, inspired by the characters of Emilio Isgrò’s Orestea, to “restage” today the scenic machines conceived by Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1983.

Photo from the Arnaldo Pomodoro Archive, installation of the set design for *Agamènnuni* on the ruins of Gibellina, 1983

Within this perspective of collaboration with Sicilian institutions falls the loan of the model for the Porta dei Re of Cefalù Cathedral (1997–1998), which will be exhibited at Palazzo Branciforte in Palermo, as well as the exhibition of the Project for the Monument in Memory of Giovanni Falcone (1992) at the Museo del Presente Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in Palermo, thanks to the synergy with the Falcone Foundation.

Photo by Carlo Orsi, with Federico Zeri during the presentation of the model for the Porta dei Re of Cefalù Cathedral, 1998

In 2026, the documentary Arnaldo Pomodoro – La natura della forma will be presented, written and directed by Alessandro Pezza and produced by Studiozabalik, with the scientific consultancy of the Foundation. The film uses archival materials, interviews, and footage to create a new, emotional, and engaging portrait of the artist, exploring the relationship between art and nature—a constant theme in the Maestro’s work.

The city of Soliera will take part in the centenary celebrations, continuing the path begun in 2020 with the exhibition at Castello Campori and the loan of the Obelisco di Cleopatra (1989–2008) in Piazza Lusvardi, which today hosts Lancia di Luce II (1985). In October, Soliera will dedicate an exhibition to Arnaldo Pomodoro with the aim of further strengthening the dialogue between public space and contemporary art, and consolidating the connection between the city, the Maestro, and the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation.

Photo Lancia di Luce II, piazza Lusvardi, Soliera

The Rome IX Eur Municipality has promoted an initiative for the restoration and enhancement of the Novecento Obelisk (2000–2002), located in Piazzale Pier Luigi Nervi, the gateway to Rome for those arriving from southern Lazio. It will take part in the 2026 celebrations with its own public cultural initiatives, aiming to establish a technical-scientific committee involving all relevant stakeholders in the promotion of the artwork and its urban context.

Photo by Carlo Orsi, Novecento in Piazzale Pier Luigi Nervi, Rome