From 9 to 30 June 2018
From 9 to 30 June, the ‘Baarlo Leeft!’ Foundation will organise a three-week international sculpture symposium with the aim of making Baarlo as a castle village, and in particular the Peel & Maas region (in the southeast of the Netherlands, near the city of Venlo), better known to the public, both nationally and internationally. In addition to the well-known steel 'knots' of former inhabitant, visual artist Shinkichi Tajiri, the village of Baarlo will now also be enriched with a number of stone sculptures made by six (inter)national artists. The artists include Hans Reijnders (Netherlands), Lien-Chin Hou (Taiwan), Leonard Rachita (France), Esfandyar Moradpour (Iran), Radoslan Sultov (Bulgaria) and Hiroyuki Asano (Japan).
This sculpture symposium takes place in the green heart of Baarlo (on Baron van Erplaan). From 9 to 30 June, the village will be completely dominated by sculpture.
During this period, six artists from all over the world will meet in Baarlo and create a work of art on the spot. In three weeks’ time, a work of art is created from a rough block of stone (weighing a few tons) in front of the public. To quote Michelangelo, the artists will “liberate a sculpture from a stone”, as it were.
With this project we want to captivate a wide audience by letting them experience with all their senses what sculpture means. In order to achieve this, it is possible for the audience to watch the 'creation of art' by the six artists on a daily basis during the project period. To highlight the art sites, six frameworks will be placed in front of them, so that each visitor can make beautiful framed snapshots.
The aim of the sculpture symposium is to bring visual art closer to the public and also to make art and culture accessible to a wide audience, both old and young!
These works of art will be officially presented to the Baarlo community in 2019, during the 2nd Baarlo Castle Day on 22 April (Easter Monday), in honour of the 800th anniversary of the village. The works of art will then be given their final destination, scattered throughout the village. These locations have been selected in close cooperation with the Baarlo Art and Culture Foundation. The final choice of the works of art was made by the inhabitants of Baarlo, ensuring that these sculptures enjoy broad community support.
In addition to the sculptors being at work during these three weeks, workshops and guest lectures will be organised for both young and old. The primary school children from the municipality of Peel & Maas, the secondary education from the region as well as the Academies of Fine Arts in Maastricht and Breda contribute to the project. Besides, the senior citizens' organisation KBO and the clients of the Disabled Foundation Limburg (SGL) are also actively involved in the symposium.
During these three weeks, various other activities will take place in and around the castle park. For example, on all Wednesday and Friday evenings and in the weekends, there will be musical
performances that suit to this symposium. During the symposium there will also be a (modest) exhibition of works by the participating artists.
We would like to meet you in the tourist village of Baarlo and we hope you will have a pleasant stay and a great ('stone-good') art experience.
The event is open to the public free of charge.
On behalf of the Baarlo Steengoed Committee:
Miriam Lormans-Bormans, Frank Faessen, Peter Dorssers, Paul Berden, Twan Smedts and Piet van der Haas.
Contact details: baarloleeft@baarlo.nl ; tel. 0653868750
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