For the BE OPEN Regional Art competition, July, August and September became the months of celebration of young South American artists whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities. The programme covered Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, French Guiana.
Artworks by 20 emerging artists from the listed countries were posted at the online gallery every month, and a public vote selected three Regional Artists of the Month.
The 500 euro grant goes to the July winner Andrea Terceros, a Bolivian artist with a background in architecture. Andrea creates vibrant paintings to capture the beauty of everyday life. For Andrea, colour takes precedence over form, serving as the primary language through which she communicates her inner world.
The honorary mentions are the August winner Elenise Xisto, a Brazilian visual artist born in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul; and the September winner María Camila Cepeda, a Colombian artist based in the UK.
Another winner is a personal choice of the Founder of BE OPEN Elena Baturina. The 300 euro grant goes to Nadir Alzamora, known artistically as Ridan, from Lima, Peru. His art reflects a profound bond with nature, translated through the visual language of colour, shape, and symbol. His work reflects a journey — both geographic and emotional — grounded in observation, memory, and transformation.
The regional competition runs alongside the regular ongoing work of BE OPEN Art, whose experts every month select 20 new artists for the gallery, using online voting to name the Artist of the Month and the Artist of the Year.
Aiming to support emerging talent, BE OPEN Art selects artists at an early stage of their career who emphasize social consciousness and aesthetical solutions to the wrongs of the contemporary world. The project sees its mission in looking for new influencers in the art scene, and invites everyone to contribute.
BE OPEN is a global initiative to foster creativity and innovation, a think-tank whose mission is to promote people and ideas today to build solutions for tomorrow. It is a cultural and social initiative supported by Austria-based international philanthropist and businessperson Elena Baturina.