PANORAMA. | Selection from the art fund of Piran Coastal Galleries | 

25.03.2022 – 21.08.2022, Civic Gallery Piran | 

Opening: Friday, 25.03.2022, at 6.00 pm | 

Artists: Günter Brus, Avgust Černigoj, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, IRWIN, Mladen Ivančić, Metka Krašovec, Janez Lenassi, Emil Memon, Hermann Nitsch, Mimmo Paladino, John Phillips, Anne & Patrick Poirier, Robert Watts

Robert Watts, High-Tech Display, 1987
Hermann Nitsch, Das Letzte Abendmahl, 1983
Gunter Brus, Vabimo vas… , 1983
Augusto Cernigoj, Plaža (Piramida), 1966
John Phillips, Tito Plays Chess, 1944

John Phillips, Partisan Commissioner Sergije Makijedo with his secretary in a Palace in Monopoli, Italy, 1944

The exhibition Panorama. The selection from the art fund of Piran Coastal Galleries was created in a dialogue between trainee curator Samantha Chia from Italy and the director of Piran Coastal Galleries Mara Ambrožič Verderber. It aims to present to the public some of the most important artists and their works that the Piran Coastal Galleries keep in their collections. It is an international group exhibition, which is also conceived as a collective museum exercise for the entire PCG board. Based on the selection of Samantha Chia and her view from outside, it was establishing the extent to which the selected works contributed to the international orientation of this institution as a museum and to the enrichment of society and cultural heritage in its protection. The presentation of works from various collections is not a novelty in our institution; the formation of collections is part of the mission of our institute, which will turn 50 in a few years’ time. Therefore, for the Piran Coastal Galleries in the coming period, professional reviewing of collections by professionals, valorization of works of art and active thinking about the importance and value of the public fund are even more pertinent. Panorama has already opened some of these questions during the creation of the exhibition, while others will arise in the future. Therein lies the power of art.

Panorama is a concept of a wide view from a higher, elevated point, which opens up a “view of the landscape in all directions". In a panoramic view, the singularities are blurred, and the boundaries between individual objects are simply erased. With a selection of works of art from the Piran Coastal Galleries’ collections, we want to present individual and at the same time unique expressions that coexist and mix in this wide-angle view. 

Panorama wants to be an overcoming of the geographical and structural constraints of artistic language in terms of technique, media used and chronological frameworks. While the selection was based mainly on works with socio-political content, the Panorama exhibition is also an opportunity to present some works of art to the public for the very first time, and others after decades of storage in our depots.

Panorama also presents works that arrived to the Piran Coastal Galleries in an unconventional way. They recount our more recent history, intertwined with personal stories of artists, and testify to the cultural influence of the Piran Coastal Galleries in the international space.

More information and content about individual works and collections will be published at the occasion of the opening.

Opening: photos