BIONIKE PRESENTS THE NEW EDITION OF SHAPES OF ART

To mark World Art Day, BioNike presents the latest edition of Shapes of Art, a project dedicated to promoting talent in the art world, which continues its evolution for the second year by expanding its scope and range of expressive forms.
For 2026, the project is taking shape through a collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, a historic institution that has long been a cornerstone of the Italian art scene and has always been committed to training and promoting young talent.

​Our support takes the form of the launch of the “From Matter to Skin” sculpture competition, open to all students in the Academy’s Sculpture program, and a donation aimed at improving teaching spaces and equipment: a project that demonstrates a concrete commitment to the collective growth of the students, promoting not only emerging talent but also the creative environment in which they are trained.
“We believe that beauty emerges when science and creativity come together, giving rise to the purest expression of art. That is why we are proud to support the Shapes of Art project and to stand alongside the students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence: through sculpture, matter becomes language and beauty takes shape, expressing identity, sensitivity, and a contemporary vision.” ​
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Marianna Granata
Marketing & Communication Director BioNike
The competition, developed in collaboration with Lia Pantani and Cristian Biasci, professors of sculpture at the Academy, invites participants to interpret, through a three-dimensional sculptural work, the skin as a contemporary metaphor—a space where vulnerability and strength, science and identity, and matter and the embodied self converge.

​Students must create their works using eco-sustainable materials and present them through sketches, visual materials, and artistic concepts, giving shape to a personal and original reflection.
Ricerca
“With Shapes of Art, a new and unprecedented collaboration begins between the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and BioNike, through a project that brings together art, beauty, and research in a contemporary dialogue where respect for the body and the environment emerges as a necessary prerequisite for all forms of creativity”

Prof. Gaia Bindi
​Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence
We are making a tangible investment in emerging talent by offering three cash prizes for the works deemed most deserving by a jury composed of company representatives and Academy faculty members.

​The winner will also receive an additional grant to produce the final piece, which will be presented during a public event as part of the upcoming edition of Milan Beauty Week, thereby offering a concrete opportunity for visibility and professional growth.
SHAPES OF ART