One of the oldest sculpture symposiums worldwide
Forma Viva in Slovenia is one of the oldest sculpture symposium in the world! More than 300 sculptures were created by 150 sculptors of international origin. Most of these sculptures were installed in the Mediterranean area, in Seca near Portoroz, Slovenia, and others were placed in the Slovenian cities of Koper, Izola and Piran.
Through continuous efforts for donations (shared among cities, state and private sponsors) as well as the considerable interest from the general public and tourists (the symposium is attended annually by 30,000 people!), the Symposium has established itself as a brand that is known worldwide and represents one of the few opportunities to present Slovene culture in the world. Also remarkable is its accomplishment of keeping the symposium series alive through regular biannual presentations over 50 years since 1961.
History
The Slovenian sculptors Janez Lenassi and Jakob Savinšek, who are both counted among the most important Slovenian sculptors of the second half of the 20th Century, were already participants at the first Symposium in the Austrian town of St. Margaret (since 1959) under the guidance of the sculptor Karl Prantl and Heinrich Deutsch.
Savinšek and Lenassi were enthusiastic about the idea of an international gathering of sculptors and exchange while creating monumental open-air sculptures. They decided to organize a similar symposium in Slovenia. Consequently, similar Symposia took place in 1961 under the name "Forma Viva" in two small Slovenian towns near Portorož Seča and Kostanjevica na Krki in southeastern Slovenia, near Zagreb.
As Slovenia still formed part of the former Yugoslavia under Tito at the time, and thus a neutral position in the East-West conflict, the founders of Forma Viva Symposia wanted to create an atmosphere of openness, community and independence at their meetings. In the first year a total of 19 sculptors from around the world took part in the Symposium. These two Symposia were still held every other year, alternately in Seča and Kostanjevica.
After 1988, the symposium in Kostanjevica was no longer held. Only ten years later, in 1998, was it reopened.
Title: Invitation for a walk
Symposium: 27 June until 3 Juli 2011
Exhibition: one week consecutively
Location: Maribor (as part of the Lent Festivals in the city park)
Theme: Thinking like the forest
Topics: environmental thinking, promoting the perception of nature in a dialogue with the social development of urban spaces
Jury: Prof. Petar Barišić (Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts), Barbara Rupel, Božidar Jakac Gallery, Dr. Andrej Smrekar (National Gallery in Ljubljana), Gojko Zupan (Cultural Heritage Directorate at the Ministry of Culture) and Goran Milovanović (Božidar Jakac Gallery, Kostanjevica na Krki) has been able to select three candidates from 85 applications submitted.
Kontakt E-Mail: info@galerija-bj.si