The 16th edition of Art Stays, the largest Slovenian festival of contemporary fine art, entitled Fragile, focuses on the fragility of art materials, fragmentation, processes of time or mere moments, destined to transform the quality of things, situations and sentiments. It addresses the fragility of relationships in modern society, the social, cultural and political history, as well as the question of human identity.
The festival will take place between 6th and 13th of July 2018 (exhibitions till 9th September 2018) in Ptuj’s town squares and historic al buildings, showcasing artworks created with a wide range of media: sculpture, photography, installations, video, painting, performances, and music.
The program was devised by Jernej Forbici and Marika Vicari, the directors of the festival, in cooperation with artists and international galleries, museums, public and private institutions including the Fondazione Berengo from Venice, Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, Arte Laguna Prize ̶ and a group of international curators: Antonio Arévalo, Italo Bergantini, Riccardo Costantini, Dušan Fišer, Carlo Sala e Koen Vanmechelen.
Exhibitions, the central part of the festival’s program, will be hosted by all of Ptuj’s exhibition venues, and also in the town’s surroundings. The first to be singled out is GLASSTRESS PTUJ SLOVENIA (curator: Koen Vanmechelen), the main exhibition of the year which will be on display between 6th of July and 9th of September in the Ptuj City Gallery.
Glasstress is a long term project by Adriano Berengo, designed to further his vision of uniting contemporary art and glass. Artists of all disciplines, from sculptors to musicians, have been invited to collaborate with maestros in creating art in glass. Since 2009, these works have been exhibited in the historic Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal in Venice, further supported and promoted by Fondazione Berengo since 2014. Glasstress showcases the collaboration of craft and creativity, forges a new trajectory for glass and a new path for contemporary artists.
Glasstress has also been presented in prominent museums and institutions worldwide, including the Millesgården Museum in Stockholm, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the London College of Fashion and The Wallace Collection in London, and is now presented in the context of the 16th Art Stays Festival, Slovenia. Koen Vanmechelen, the renowned Belgian artist who has been collaborating with Berengo Studio since ’90s, will curate this exhibition.
The theme of this exhibition, based on the eclectic collection of the Fondazione Berengo, deals with the fragility, the brittleness of the way in which we are constructing our future. Creations are the product of balanced imbalances. Creativity is a hyper-complex process on such a vast scale that requires delicacy, inspiration, mastery and a belief in the power of imagination. In this gem of an exhibition different rooms represent the brittleness of various key elements, puzzles if you like, that form our current world in full transformation mode.
- curator Koen Vanmechelen
artists: Ai Weiwei, Monira Al Qadiri, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Leonardo Cimolin, Josepha Gasch-Muche, Shane Guffogg, Brigitte Kowanz, Vik Muniz, Lucy+Jorge Orta, Thomas Schütte, Gavin Turk, Koen Vanmechelen, Fred Wilson, Erwin Wurm. curator: Koen Vanmechelen
Exhibition Facts
Opening 6 July 2018, 19.00 Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, Slovenia curator and artist talk 7 July 2018, 10.00
more information; http://www.artstays.si/glasstress-ptuj-slovenija/
