International Sculpture Symposium
Encyclopedia
The International Sculpture Symposium movement was spearheaded by Karl Prantl
in Austria
in 1959.
This initiative grew from the need to facilitate communication and exchange between members of the international sculpture community. It was also rooted in Cold War
tensions, which lent a particular urgency to the need for cross-cultural dialogue on a person-to-person basis.
The first international sculpture symposium took place in an abandoned stone quarry in Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland
.
Sculptors from around the world joined together to produce a permanent public artwork from local stone, a dynamic which would provide the model for many symposia to follow.
Since then international sculpture symposia have been held in numerous towns and cities around the world, including Lindabrunn, Austria and Hagi, YamaguchiHagi, Japan
(a town known for its pottery
). The first international sculpture symposia in the United States (and the first on a college campus) was in 1965 on the California State University, Long Beach
campus in Long Beach, California
.
The first Sculpture Symposium in Australia was held at Wondabyne near Gosford in New South Wales in 1986.
It was followed by the Barossa International Sculpture Symposium in Mengler Hill near Tanunda in the Barossa in South Australia in 1988. Nine sculptures in Marble and Granite were carved by sculptors from France, USA, Japan and Australia. The Site is now the Barossa Sculpture Park.
Karl Prantl (sculptor)
- Biography :Prantl was born in Pöttsching in the Austrian state Burgenland. He studied from 1946 tot 1952 with the painter Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Vienna. As the stone sculptor he became he was an autodidact....
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1959.
This initiative grew from the need to facilitate communication and exchange between members of the international sculpture community. It was also rooted in Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
tensions, which lent a particular urgency to the need for cross-cultural dialogue on a person-to-person basis.
The first international sculpture symposium took place in an abandoned stone quarry in Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland
Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland
St Margarethen is a town in Burgenland near the state capital Eisenstadt. It is home to a large 1st century Roman quarry. A passion play has been presented in St Margarethen each summer for over seventy years. The town is close to the border with Hungary. The Pan-European Picnic peace...
.
Sculptors from around the world joined together to produce a permanent public artwork from local stone, a dynamic which would provide the model for many symposia to follow.
Since then international sculpture symposia have been held in numerous towns and cities around the world, including Lindabrunn, Austria and Hagi, YamaguchiHagi, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(a town known for its pottery
Japanese pottery
Japanese pottery and porcelain , one of the country's oldest art forms, dates back to the Neolithic period...
). The first international sculpture symposia in the United States (and the first on a college campus) was in 1965 on the California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
campus in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
.
The first Sculpture Symposium in Australia was held at Wondabyne near Gosford in New South Wales in 1986.
It was followed by the Barossa International Sculpture Symposium in Mengler Hill near Tanunda in the Barossa in South Australia in 1988. Nine sculptures in Marble and Granite were carved by sculptors from France, USA, Japan and Australia. The Site is now the Barossa Sculpture Park.