RUFA receives the WELLBEING IN ARTS Special Mention at the CULTURA + IMPRESA Award 2025–2026
The Impressions of Humanity project, developed in collaboration with Fondazione MSD, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere and Eikon Strategic Consulting Italia Società Benefit, has received one of Italy’s most prestigious awards for projects that foster dialogue between culture, business and social innovation.
RUFA was honoured at the 13th edition of the CULTURA + IMPRESA Award, Italy’s leading recognition for projects that promote collaboration between culture, businesses and institutions. The Academy received the WELLBEING IN ARTS Special Mention for Impressions of Humanity, a project conceived by Fondazione MSD and developed in collaboration with RUFA, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Eikon Strategic Consulting Italia Società Benefit and a network of Patient and Caregiver Associations.
Accepting the award on behalf of the Academy was Marta Jovanović, artist and Coordinator of RUFA’s Department of Visual Arts, who oversaw the project alongside artist Francesca Fini and artist and faculty member Leonardo Petrucci, guiding the students throughout their creative journey.
Created to mark the twentieth anniversary of Fondazione MSD, Impressions of Humanity explores, interprets and gives voice—through digital arts and the dialogue with Artificial Intelligence—to the experiences of young Italian caregivers, young people aged between 18 and 30 who provide daily care for family members living with illness or disability.
The project originated from Italy’s first national survey on young caregivers, coordinated by Eikon Strategic Consulting Italia Società Benefit together with an extensive network of Patient and Caregiver Associations, including FAVO, APMARR, Young Care Italia, Cittadinanzattiva, Salute Donna ODV, Salute Uomo, UNIAMO and the Italian Federation of Voluntary Oncology Associations. Conducted across 17 Italian regions, the survey gathered the experiences, emotions and needs of hundreds of young caregivers, becoming the foundation for an innovative educational programme designed for RUFA students.
RUFA: Art, Research and Artificial Intelligence
As part of the project, RUFA students were invited to transform the survey’s findings into contemporary artworks through digital languages and Artificial Intelligence, with the aim of giving visibility to personal stories that often remain unheard.
RUFA played an active role throughout the entire process, providing student training, supervising the artistic development of the works and curating the final exhibition, reaffirming its commitment to integrating Health Humanities into contemporary artistic education.
The artworks were evaluated by an expert jury according to criteria including innovation, artistic quality, communication effectiveness and consistency with the research findings.
The Artists Behind the Project
Raquel Nache López, winner of the project with Giulia’s Room, is a multimedia artist whose practice explores the relationship between human experience, emerging technologies and Artificial Intelligence.
Rūta Valantiejutė, with CARRY, is a Lithuanian visual artist whose research intertwines nature, spirituality, memory and empathy.
Leila Tanhaei, with Home, Sweet Home!, is an Iranian painter and multidisciplinary artist whose work investigates cultural identity, resilience and the human condition.
Jasmijn Doukje Plantinga, with Forget Us Not, is a Dutch artist whose practice explores portraiture, symbolism and memory through painting.
Lucrezia Della Balda, with Scheda Madre, is an artist engaged with themes of activism and contemporary visual research.
Nino Skhirtladze, with 102, is a Georgian artist whose multidisciplinary practice brings together literature, cinema and the visual arts.
The artworks were first presented at Fondazione Pastificio Cerere and were later exhibited at RUFA during Rome Art Week, helping to raise awareness of a social issue that remains largely overlooked despite its profound significance.
The CULTURA + IMPRESA Award
Now in its thirteenth edition, the CULTURA + IMPRESA Award is Italy’s leading recognition for projects that foster collaboration between culture, businesses and institutions. Promoted by the CULTURA + IMPRESA Committee, founded by Federculture and The Round Table, the award is judged each year by a panel of professionals from the fields of culture, communication and business.
During the 2025–2026 edition, Category Awards were also presented to INCINEMA OUTSIDE, MAUGERI IN ARTE and MUSEO TRA LE MURA, alongside several Special Mentions recognising the most innovative projects at the intersection of culture and business.
Raquel Nache López
A Rome-based multimedia artist, her practice revolves around shared human experiences and emotional responses to the rapidly changing world we inhabit. Through painting, installation and digital experimentation, she reflects on how individual and collective stories intertwine in contemporary life. Combining emotion with observation, she frequently explores new technologies and Artificial Intelligence both as creative tools and as mirrors of human behaviour. Her recent work Giulia investigates themes of care, presence and digital consciousness, redefining the boundaries between humans and machines.
Rūta Valantiejutė
Born in 2004 in Kaunas, Lithuania, she is a visual artist based in Rome. Drawing inspiration from the roots of shamanic and pagan traditions, where personified nature and primitivism connect the human psyche with the natural world, her work seeks to communicate the importance of humanity’s bond with nature, empathy and awareness. From 2018 to 2023 she attended the Kaunas High School of Art, specialising in painting. During this period she actively participated in and led painting, printmaking and land art workshops within the local community and as part of the project “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”. In 2023 she worked as an artist on the redevelopment project of Kaunas Zoo.
Leila Tanhaei
Born in 1999 in Rasht, Iran, Leila Tanhaei is a painter and multidisciplinary artist with a background in architecture. She initially studied Mathematics and Physics before earning her first degree in Architecture in her hometown. She is currently enrolled in the Painting programme at RUFA. Working across a range of media, including painting, multimedia and installation, her artistic research explores the challenges of humanity and cultural identity. Through the use of diverse materials, she evokes deep emotional responses while addressing themes of resilience, emotional values and collective struggle. Her work offers a sensitive reflection on the complexities of human existence and cultural heritage.
Jasmijn Doukje Plantinga
Jasmijn Doukje Plantinga (born in 2004 in Harderwijk, the Netherlands) is an artist based in Amsterdam. She graduated with honours in Painting from RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts in 2025. Working primarily with large-scale oil portraits, her artistic research explores symbolism while incorporating traditional and diverse textiles both as subjects and as materials.
Impressions of Humanity @ Rome Art Week
The artworks exhibited at RUFA during Rome Art Week 2025
