BE OPEN Regional Art celebrates the winners of the Central European competition

LUGANO, Switzerland, Sept. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BE OPEN Art, an online gallery set up by Elena Baturina's humanitarian think-tank BE OPEN, continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art competition for the fourth year in 2026. It aims to support those emerging artists whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities.

From May to August 2026, the competition explored the art of Central Europe: Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Artworks by twenty artists from these countries appeared in the online gallery every month, and a public vote selected the Regional Artist of the Month.

At the end of the stage, the four monthly winners were ranged in accordance with the number of votes and assessment by the incredible jury headed by Michal Novotný, Director of the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery Prague; Branka Bencic, Director of MoMCA, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Croatia, and Olga Butinar Čeh, Curator at ZDSLU, the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies.

The title of the Artist of the Region and the €500 grant goes to Marie Bokova, who studies Ceramics and Porcelain at UMPRUM in Prague. Her practice explores the relationship between human histories and the natural world through figurative ceramic sculpture, relief, and material-based processes. Combining ceramics with wood, wax, and organic matter, her work draws on biological processes as both practical techniques and conceptual frameworks.

The honourary mentions are the Artists of the Month Bogdana Peric Milenkovic from Serbia, Helena Mirich from Croatia, and Lorena Iavorschi from Romania.

Another awardee is Elena Baturina's personal choice - Ester Nemjo, a painter, illustrator, and animator based in Prague. A graduate from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and The School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Ester creates dreamlike narratives inhabited by imaginary creatures and symbolic landscapes that explore themes of inner life, transformation, care, and motherhood.

Through the Regional Art competition, BE OPEN Art continues its mission to support emerging artists worldwide, fostering artistic innovation, cross-cultural dialogue, and the preservation of regional identities through contemporary art.

In 2026, BE OPEN Regional Art will proceed with the competition in East Asia.