The WOOD & STONE International Art Residency was conceived in collaboration with curators, artists and cultural organisers active in the Goriška region and actively networking across borders in their respective fields. The Lo-ko Lokve Association has joined forces with the organisers of the ART CIRCLE International Visual Arts Festival and invited artists to our meadows, in the heart of the Trnovo Forest, to create new images, forms and sculptures. Shapes that are born from our space and our time. We have chosen wood and stone because of the natural gifts that the landscape offers us.
“Our ambition is to design a permanent Forma Viva at Lokve – an outdoor installation of sculptural works by contemporary artists that will be accessible to the public for many years to come. In the heart of the Trnovo Forest, we have created a space for an international artist residency focusing on contemporary sculpture. Invited by the selector Jorg van Daele, academically trained sculptors from Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Cuba are working these days, and we are delighted that they will enrich our place with their works of art,” say dr.Petra Kolenc, Lo-Ko Lokve.

“The experience in Lokve means a lot to me because I am surrounded by nature, which means a lot to us artists. In my sculptural design I wanted to come up with a form that would express a cell growing through a membrane. I wanted to represent this basic unit, which is the centre of every animal and plant organism and from which the fundamental vital energy comes. It is breathing that connects us to our energy centre, which is why I called my sculpture Breath,” said one of the participants, Valeria Vitulli, a sculptor from Italy, expressing her experience.

Participating artists:
JORG VAN DAELE / Belgium
CARLOS LORENZO HIDALGO / Spain
VALERIA VITULLI / Italy
ANA ŽERJAL / Slovenia
OSCAR AGUIRRE COMENDADOR / Cuba
DANIELA ROMAGNOLI / Italy

Artistic Director: Klemen Brun, Slovenia
Selection: Jorg Van Daele, Belgium
Curator: Klavdija Figelj, Slovenia
Coordinators: Petra Kolenc Lo-Ko Lokve, Maša Gala ART CIRCLE International