IS THERE A BETTER WAY? 2
It is the year 2008. The 2nd International Workshop of Marble Sculptures is opened in Opole. Eight artists – a selection of fifty – came to the city to create sculptures based on song motifs. Opole is, after all, the capital of Polish song.
Opole’s city management was proud to announce that the material for the workshop – marble worth several hundred thousand Polish zlotys – was donated by the Italian partner city of Carrara.
Work on creating sculptures from the Carrara material lasted 21 days. Throughout the whole time, the artists’ work was observed by both local residents and journalists, who incidentally noticed that the sculptures, which had been created two years ago during a previous workshop event, had still not found their place. City officials then assured the journalists that the sculptures from the previous event would soon be placed in the city streets and that the new works would find their place much more quickly.
Since 20 July 2008, residents have been able to view the results of artistic work on the square in Opole. After that, the sculptures were eventually placed at various locations in the city. It is not for me to evaluate the pace of these realisations and their integration in accordance with the environment where they were placed, but I personally think that in most cases these placements were often not quite appropriate…
Perhaps someone else will comment on this matter, but I would like to draw attention here to the fate of one of the sculptures entitled “Choir” by Ashraf Gafer El Sadek Mohamed Mahdi from Egypt. This was placed in a recreational area in Bierkowice – now a suburban district of Opole and until recently a suburban village.
I passed through there recently. What caught my attention was the uniformity with which this statue appears. When I came closer, I just stood stunned. The famous Carrara has been “restored”. In white paint…
Painted marble… Carrara… I am only happy there are no statues by Michelangelo in Opole.
I can hardly resist the urge to ask someone responsible: is there a better way?
Source: Kurier kamieniarski
Author: Paweł Szambelan | Published: 28 June 2018
