Journey through Arte Utile (AU)

Multiannual research program organised by the public interest NGO raum AU in collaboration with The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška (KGLU). Artists, researchers and theoreticians are invited to engage with six decades of Pino Poggi’s work and his Arte Utile.

Introduction

Regardless of the fact that Pino Poggi never truly resided in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, he regularly returned here, and his ideas remain vibrant in the city where he exhibited and collaborated frequently with institutions and other artists. In the meantime, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška (KGLU) has become one of the key institutions that preserve and examine his artistic heritage. The artist himself donated 356 pieces to the institution, making him one of the central figures of the KGLU collection. […]

Journey through Arte Utile (AU) is a project that not only connects non-governmental institutions with public services and self-employed individuals in culture, but also encourages reflection and discourse on Poggi’s concepts within the current social condition, providing a platform for artistic production, in which KGLU also participates. Artists, invited to the residency, are offered both introspection and reminiscence, resulting in the actualization of Poggi’s ideas, which they enhance with their own artistic practices. Like Poggi, they contemplate the social role of art and place it, in one way or another, within the local community or its activities. Lastly, the project Journey through Arte Utile (AU) testifies to the unifying power of art, on which Poggi built his vision of a better and more inclusive society. With this, his work remains perpetually relevant and, in the future, an inspiration to many artists.

Petra Čeh, Director of KGLU

Introduction text (Slovenian/English)

Research residency

The residency, which started in 2022, is aimed at interdisciplinary research of the work and ideas of Pino Poggi. Organised twice a year it takes part in the relocated and reorganized atelier of Pino Poggi in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. A recreated copy of his ateliers from Aragona, Sicily, and Hexenagger, Germany, filled with his works and archive. It contains many artworks, drafts, sketches as well as a lot of archival material that still needs to be researched and digitised.

Residency application

Application-info: English | Slovenian

Researchers notes

On the basis of a temporally undefined research, the artist/researcher presents his/her interpretation of Pino Poggi’s work in an accompanying notebook that follows each residency. This notebook contains findings, complemented by photographs and documents acquired during the researcher’s period in the atelier. The presentation of insights into Poggi’s oeuvre can also take the form of an accompanying exhibition and/or different public interactions: readings, lectures, concerts, happenings, etc.