GENERATIVE METAMORPHOSIS
3rd Florence Annual International Art Exhibition (2025–2026)
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Florence | Casa Abitata
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23–29 Jan 2026
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Deadline: 08 Jan 2026
Artworks include painting, photography, video, sculpture, installation, conceptual art, performance art, graphic design, etc.
There will be a participation fee if selected to be displayed on site.
As one of the organisers of the exhibition, Casa Abitata has offered the their gallery in the heart of Florence on the banks of the Arno River, as the venue for the opening reception and the exhibition.
Through this exhibition, the artists shall use dynamic and personalised language to explore together the transformation of life forms, and to use their artworks to expand the boundaries and metamorphic state of artistic traces.
The jury for this annual exhibition consists of professors, scholars, presidents of art academies and art associations from Italy, China and the United States, as well as prominent international curators. The exhibition has established various awards, including Grand Prize (Artist of the Year), Jury Special Mention, Outstanding Contribution, Best Rising Star, Best Visual, and other jury awards. These awards will be selected by the jury during the opening ceremony and exhibition, and the winners will be announced uniformly.
The names of the participating artists will be featured in Flash Art magazine and you will have the opportunity to enjoy following art resources:
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7 days of offline art exhibition at Casa Abitata in the center of Florence；
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Online exhibition on ISOLART official website；
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Invitation to the opening ceremony, cocktail reception and awarding ceremony；
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Electronic version of participation certificate；
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Electronic version of the official exhibition catalogue;
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Electronic version of the exhibition;
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Award certificates of winning artists;
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Flash Art Report of the exhibition (including the artist's name and works) ;
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Full promotion package of ISOLART GALLERY including but not limited to the official website, INSTAGRAM, WeChat public account, Online platforms such as Xiaohongshu; report on the exhibition and the artist's personal report;
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Collaboration in the agency sales of exhibited works during the exhibition.
Application Requirements
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Submit up to 3 standout pieces, together with an artist statement and a short biography.
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Please note that not all submissions will receive written reviews. Our critics will select the works that resonate with them.
Artwork Size Limit
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All artworks must be no larger than 1 m × 1 m.
Open Call Submission Fees (non-refundable):
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€35 for 1 artwork
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€45 for 2 artworks
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€55 for 3 artworks
Exhibition Introduction
The theme of this exhibition, “Generative Metamorphosis”, invites artists and audiences to jointly explore—and actively shape—the artistic intersection between Deleuze’s theory of becoming and morphogenesis within the context of a posthuman society. Poetics and philosophy have liberated our ontological imagination of how all things emerge and continually transform, while cutting-edge digital technologies and experiments in the life sciences give concrete form to posthuman visions that once belonged only to speculation. In his epic poem Metamorphoses, the ancient Roman poet Ovid releases—through myth and allegory—the latent potential for humans to shift their forms across animals and plants, celestial bodies, and even divinities; Kafka, in turn, employs the urban grotesque of modernist fiction to allegorize the collective tragedies and struggles of his time. Within the discourse of contemporary art, posthuman metamorphosis becomes both the flux of all beings within technologized processes of becoming and the fractured yet dynamic structure of our humanistic heritage.
The venue of this exhibition is set in the very heart of Florence’s historic centre, on the banks of the Arno River, within Casa Abitata—an architectural complex with centuries of history. Spanning structures from the 13th to the 19th century, the site becomes a stage where contemporary art confronts and converses directly with the city’s millennia of accumulated time.
Piazza Ognissanti — Landscape View by Giuseppe Zocchi (1744)
Casa Abitata is located on Piazza Ognissanti, on the banks of the Arno River in Florence’s historic center—regarded by many locals as one of the city’s most elegant squares. On one side of the piazza stands the Church of Ognissanti (Chiesa di Ognissanti), founded in the 13th century and later rebuilt in the 17th century in Baroque style. The church once housed works by masters such as Giotto, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio, making it a key landmark in early Renaissance art. Botticelli and Simonetta Vespucci—often called the “muse of the Medici era”—are buried here, and the Vespucci family chapel of the great explorer Amerigo Vespucci is also located within the church.
Chiesa di Ognissanti
Within the Arno riverside district of Florence where this exhibition is situated, the Church of Ognissanti (Chiesa di Ognissanti) stands out as the area’s most significant historical and spiritual landmark. The church was originally founded in the mid-13th century by the lay religious order of the Umiliati, at a time when Florence was still undergoing urban expansion and the rapid growth of artisanal industries. Renowned for their expertise in the wool and textile trades, the Umiliati combined an ascetic way of life with productive labor, meaning that from its very inception the church was closely intertwined with the economic and social fabric of the Arno riverbank.
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Interior of the Church of Ognissanti (Chiesa di Ognissanti)
Since the 15th century, the site has brought together works by artists such as Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli, including Saint Augustine in His Study, Saint Jerome in His Study, and The Last Supper. Through subsequent relocations and restorations, these works became closely connected with institutions such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Monastery of San Marco, positioning the Church of Ognissanti as one of the key nodes for studying Florence’s Renaissance iconographic tradition.
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Domenico Ghirlandaio, Madonna della Misericordia (c. 1472)
On the opposite side of the square, the city’s contemporary profile is defined by two world-renowned luxury hotels: The St. Regis Florence and The Westin Excelsior, both located here. Facing the Arno River and looking toward the Ponte Vecchio, they have welcomed countless European aristocrats, writers, and cultural figures since the 18th century, and are widely regarded as synonymous with “taste and style.” Extending outward from the piazza, Piazza Ognissanti connects with the Lungarno Vespucci riverbank, the historic Palazzo Giuntini (now home to a luxury hotel), and a series of heritage buildings, forming an urban corridor that combines residential life, artistic culture, and high-end hospitality. Within roughly a ten-minute walk are landmarks such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Santa Maria Novella railway station, and the Ponte Vecchio—making this one of the rare districts in Florence’s historic center where religious-art heritage, aristocratic palazzi, and contemporary luxury hotels converge in a single, concentrated area.
Palazzo Renz(i) and Palazzo Giuntini
The architectural fabric of Casa Abitata, the venue for this exhibition, can be traced back to the 13th century. With an interior height of approximately 4.5 meters, street-facing display windows, and a relatively intact exhibition axis, it preserves a strong sense of historical space while offering the flexibility and openness required for contemporary display. This architectural context—marked by accumulated layers of time—provides a more charged, site-specific support for contemporary artworks: artistic practice is no longer understood merely as something “shown inside a space,” but rather as a point of intersection with Florence’s urban memory, the everyday life along the Arno riverbank, and the spiritual history embedded in Piazza Ognissanti.
Casa Abitata
Casa Abitata
Casa Abitata
Florence Biennale Synergy
On-site view of the 15th Florence Biennale Awards Ceremony
The Florence Biennale, founded in 1997, is recognized as one of Italy’s three major art events, alongside the Venice Biennale and the Milan Triennale. As an official partner of the 15th Florence Biennale (The Sublime Essence of Light and Darkness), ISOLART curated an independent curatorial unit within the main exhibition hall of the Fortezza da Basso, presenting an immersive artistic scenario in which sculpture, painting, photography, and other media resonated and converged through the works of six significant artists from China and abroad. Half of the participating artists received major official Biennale awards, including the “Lorenzo il Magnifico” and “Leonardo da Vinci” prize series, and the project was further honored to win the “Lorenzo il Magnifico Gold Medal for Sculpture” (first prize in the sculpture section).
Coverage of previous editions by leading international art magazines
As one of the most influential contemporary art publishing platforms worldwide, Flash Art has long followed and supported the Florence International Annual Art Exhibition. Since the inaugural edition, the exhibition has attracted broad attention and discussion. It has not only drawn active participation from artists around the world, but has also received strong recognition from leading authoritative art publications internationally. FLASH ART has produced in-depth feature coverage for each edition, publishing dedicated articles that establish a professional communication channel for global audiences—helping participating artists build verifiable international visibility assets.