Forma viva Portorož 2021 is a commemorative event that celebrates the 60th anniversary of the sculpture park Forma viva in September. The festivities will start on Friday, the 10th of September, with a press conference and a short program of events. This year’s participating artists, the representatives of the municipalities and the supporters of Forma viva will be in attendance at the open-air workshop area. In the evening, the opening ceremony will be followed by a concert, which will be held at the Linder area of the sculpture park, in the gorgeous natural amphitheatre formed by the surrounding cypresses of the Seča peninsula. The chamber orchestra I Filarmonici di Roma will perform, with a special program specially designed for the event. The concert is organized by the Italian community Giuseppe Tartini of Piran.
The symposium would like to draw attention to the strong connection that exists between nature and contemporary art and inspire the four sculptors who were invited thanks to their artistic prominence and to the numerous international awards and accolades they received: Mario Lopes (1981) from Portugal, Jure Markota (1985) from Slovenia, Alberto Scodro (1984) from Italy, and Max M. Seibald (1968) from Austria.
By inviting the Austrian artist Max Seibald, one of the most prominent exponents of Austrian contemporary sculpture, and the winner of several international prizes for art and architecture, we wanted to highlight the origins of the symposium and its importance for the world of art, a type of event that started in Austria in 1959 and has quickly spread all over the world.
The other three participants, Alberto Scodro, Jure Markota, and Mario Lopes, are also essential reference points on the map of European contemporary art, and represent the pinnacle of mid-career sculptors, who are able to impress into stone the cultural and generational spirit of the globalized society of the 21st century.
This special edition will also be marked by the participation of the imaginative and conceptual artist Vincent Ceraudo (1986) from Paris. In the sculpture park of Seča, Ceraudo will make an intervention with a special project, which will be presented at the end of the symposium. The leitmotiv of his project is the research of the symbiosis between stone, music and light, between tradition and innovation.
The symposium will be overseen by Mara Ambrožič Verderber, ad interim director of Piran Coastal Galleries, and dr. Majda Božeglav Japelj, curator of the event. For the first time in its history, the sculptures created for the occasion will be placed at the public spaces of the four coastal municipalities that actively took part in the organization of this event, which has been renowned and recognizable for six decades: Piran, Izola, Koper, and Ankaran.
During the symposium (10th September 2021 – 16th October 2021), there will be a structured program of contents designed in collaboration with several partners, sponsors, and local communities.
The project was realized thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the Municipality of Piran, the City Municipality of Koper, the Municipality of Izola, the Municipality of Ankaran, and in collaboration with the Italian Community Giuseppe Tartini of Piran, Mediadom Pyrhani, Avditorij Portorož – Portorose, the Centre for Culture, Sport and Events of Izola, the School for Curatorial Studies Venice, and with the sponsors Tourist Office Portorož, Vinakoper, OKOLJE Piran, Cappuccino, Mestna Kavarna Piran and Trixin.
During the event, there will be numerous didactic activities for every age, coordinated by Ana Papež, curator of Piran Coastal Galleries. The program will include stone carving workshops, where the participants, under the guidance of professional sculptors, will be introduced to the techniques of carving and the usage of tools, and workshops of contemporary dance. The didactic activities will be reported on the website of Piran Coastal Galleries.
Forma viva 2021 is also the result of the collaboration with three young members of the International Internship Program PCG: Clemente Miccichè (curator), Samantha Chia (art critic), and Giorgia Simioni (creative director). For this special occasion, the three collaborators renewed the visual design of the website of Piran Coastal Galleries and are launching a practical guide on Forma viva 2021 that will encompass information on the event and other cultural highlights of Slovene Istria.
An important accomplishment achieved in connection with this year’s edition is undoubtedly the development of an interactive audio guide called VIRTUAL FORMA VIVA, containing short descriptions of twenty-one sculptures located in the park and its surroundings. The authors of this project are Črt Brajnik, director and editor, and Marko Peršolja, webmaster, both from Koper.
The guide is accessible on the new website:
www.obalne-galerije.si (Exhibitions – Virtual Forma viva).
Program of events organised during the Symposium
From Monday, 13th of September 2021, to Saturday, the 16th of October 2021
Forma viva BITE
• Creativity in the cities of Slovene Istria
Different locations: Municipality of Piran, City Municipality of Koper, Municipality of Izola, Municipality of Ankaran.
«Didactic cubes» – a few wooden cubes will be at disposal for children in order to be coloured.
• Contemporary dance workshops
Sculpture park Forma viva, Seča
Kristina Slapernik, student of contemporary dance at the Dance Academy of Ljubljana, will lead dance workshops on the theme of the symposium, Art & Nature, in the open-air museum of the sculpture park.
• Art workshops
Sculpture park Forma viva, Seča
The creative workshop will be managed by the academic sculptor Miha Pečar, who will teach the participants how to work with siporex. The activity will be held directly on the workshop area of the park, where the sculptors chisel their artworks.
• Presentations in the workshop area
The artists present their work in dialogue with the spectators.
• Guided tours of Forma viva sculpture park
On reservation.
FINISSAGE – CLOSING PROGRAM WITH A SPECIAL ARTISTIC PROJECT
Friday, the 15th of October 2021
Press conference
VINAKOPER
12.00
Presentation of the results of the symposium: Mara Ambrožič Verderber, ad interim director of Piran Coastal Galleries, and Majda Božeglav Japelj, curator of Piran Coastal Galleries.
Presentation of the special project: Vincent Ceraudo, French visual conceptual artist, will present his art installation.
The press conference will take place in the presence of the representatives of the municipalities, the local collaborators, and the supporters of the event.
A wine tasting will follow the press conference, with the special edition wine that bears the name “60th anniversary of Forma viva”!
Saturday, the 16th of October 2021
Finissage
Seča, Forma viva sculpture park
17.00
Solemn conclusion, inauguration of the special project and presentation of the sculptures of the invited artists (Mario Lopes, Jure Markota, Alberto Scodro and Max M. Seibald).
Special site-specific project: Vincent Ceraudo.
Further information on the program and the timetables of the events are available on the webpage: www.obalne-galerije.si.
Official program of events accompanying the symposium of sculpture
INAUGURATION PROGRAM
Friday, the 10th of September 2021
Press Conference
Workshop area, Seča, Portorož
10:00
Opening speech: Mara Ambrožič Verderber, ad interim director of Piran Coastal Galleries.
Presentation of Forma viva 1961-2021: Majda Božeglav Japelj, curator of Piran Coastal Galleries.
Special guest speaker: Alicia Knock, museum conservator and chief curator at the museum of modern and contemporary Art, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Presentation of the sculptors: Mario Lopes (1981) from Portugal, Jure Markota (1985) from Slovenia, Alberto Scodro (1984) from Italy, and Max M. Seibald (1968) from Austria.
The press conference will take place in the presence of the representatives of the municipalities, the local collaborators, and the supporters of the event.
11:00
The event will be accompanied by an artistic performance of the dancer Kristina Slapernik and the sound artist Dorian Janežič, Seča, Forma viva.
20:00
Concert by I Filarmonici di Roma
Forma viva, Linder area, Seča
(In case of bad weather, the concert will be held at the Tartini Theatre of Piran)
Program: Melody and virtuosity in Italian music
Gioachino Rossini (Pesaro, 1792 – Passy, 1868)
From Sei sonate a quattro, Sonata III in Do maggiore
Allegro | Andante | Moderato
Antonio Vivaldi (Venice, 1678 – Vienna, 1741)
Concerto for Four Violins, Cello, and Continuo in B Minor, op.3, no.10
Allegro | Largo Larghetto Largo | Allegro
Violin soloists: Maryse Regard, Fulvio Leofreddi, Patrizio Scarponi, Liliana Bernardi
Giuseppe Tartini (Piran, 1692–Padua, 1770)
Violin Concerto in A Major, D. 96, for Violin and Strings
Allegro | Adagio | Presto | Largo Andante
Cello soloist: Luca Pincini
Giovanni Bottesini (Crema, 1821–Parma, 1889)
Gran duo concertante for Double Bass and Violin
Violin soloist: Riccardo Bonaccini, Double Bass soloist: Piero Cardarelli
Ottorino Respighi (Bologna, 1879–Rome, 1936)
Antiche danze ed arie per liuto, Suite no. 3
Saturday, the 11th of September 2021
Concert
Tartini Theatre, Piran
20.00
Program: Luca Pincini – cello, Gilda Buttà– piano
Sergej Vasiljevič Rahmaninov
Ennio Morricone
Luca Pincini
Astor Piazzolla
The concert is organized by: Italian Community Giuseppe Tartini of Piran, Municipality of Piran, CAN Piran, PCG, Avditorij Portorož – Portorose. The event is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Piran, Università popolare di Trieste, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, and in collaboration with the self-governing coastal Community of Italian Nationality CAN.
History
Virtual Forma viva
