The ARKAD Foundation's activities include the promotion and organisation of symposia, including international ones.
FUSION. Seravezza-Hong Kong Sculptural Exchange - 2021/25
The Fusion project started in 2021 as an exchange of artists-in-residence between Seravezza and Hong Kong. The spread of the Covid pandemic forced the project to be modified. The ten selected artists, five active in Versilia and five from Hong Kong, experimented with an unprecedented long-distance collaboration, working together to create the sculptures.
In Italy, the artists Francesca Bernardini, Lorenzo Vignoli (Italy), Aurélien Boussin (France), Jacob Cartwright (Australia), Flavia Robalo (Argentina) were chosen; in Hong Kong Danny Lee, Margaret Chu, Yuen Leung Ho, Violet Shum, Yaman Chau.
FUSION 1 - 2021
In the first phase of Fusion, in the summer of 2021, the five artists in Italy created one sculpture each, in marble. At the same time, the artists in Hong Kong created one work each, in wood. The works were shipped from Italy to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to Italy. Each artist chose a partner to work with to complete the work: in Italy, the artists used marble to complete their partners' wooden works; in Hong Kong, the sculptors completed their colleagues' marble sculptures with wooden works.
On 8 December 2021, two exhibitions were opened at the same time: the five sculptures completed in Italy were exhibited at the ARKAD Foundation Gallery and the other five, completed in Hong Kong, were exhibited at the Hong Kong Visual Art Centre.
FUSION 2 - 2022/23
In the last months of 2022, the same ten artists created twenty new sculptures (two each) of small dimensions, and the complements for the two artist-partner’s sculptures. Again, marble was used in Italy, wood in Hong Kong. From Italy, the sculptures were shipped to Hong Kong. On 10 February 2023, during a videoconference connection between Hong Kong and Seravezza, the Hong Kong artists realised the "fusion" of the works with their complements, combining marble and wood.
The thirty sculptures created as part of the FUSION project were exhibited in the FUSION 2 exhibition in the Chantal Miller Gallery at the Asia society Centre in Hong Kong from 15 March to 9 July 2023.
FUSION 3 - 2023/25
The ARKAD Foundation is now working on the organisation of the Fusion 3 project, a two-week symposium that will take place between June and July 2024 in the Foundation's premises. The five Hong Kong sculptors and their colleagues and partners will create, working in pairs, five new sculptures, medium to large in size.
The works will be exhibited from July to September 2024 in the ARKAD Foundation Gallery in Seravezza; afterwards, between October and December 2024, the exhibition will move to Italy, to a prestigious venue; in early 2025, FUSION 3 will finally arrive at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, where the five new works will be exhibited together with some of the sculptures created in the first two phases of the project.
ITINERARIES IN THE SCULPTURE - July 2006, Studio ARTCO Seravezza
The Itineraries in Sculpture Symposium was organized by the Municipality of Seravezza in 2006 as part of the "Cantiere d'arte: Marmo e Arte Contemporanea" project. The aim of this project was to enhance the culture of marble and the tradition and skills of which Versilia's artisan studios and laboratories are rich. Five young artists have been invited to work in some of the most important sculpture studios to create a work in marble, in close contact with the artisans and with the productive reality of this precious material.
The ARKAD Foundation hosted the sculptor Carolina Shell at the laboratory.
Artists involved: Giovanni Balderi, Marco Biagini, Sara Bonuccelli, Vittorio Cavallini, Carolina Shell.
Studies involved: ARTCO Studio, Henraux, Giorgio Angeli Sculpture Studio, Enzo Pasquini Art Studio.
Entities involved: Municipality of Seravezza, Tuscany Region with the Regional Network for Contemporary Art TRA ART, Province of Lucca, Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation, Henraux.
EMBARKING FOR TAIWAN - September 2003, Hualien
The Hualien International Monumental Sculpture Symposium
In 2003 a symposium was organized between the Arkad and Hualien Foundation, a city in Taiwan famous for the extraction and processing of marble. It was attended by 5 Versilia artists and 5 Taiwanese artists. The sculptors created their works in monumental marble dimensions.
The following Versilian artists participated in the sculpture symposium: David Campbell (USA), Paul Bourieau (France), Jaya Schuerch (USA), Tobel (Germany), Bernard Verhaeghe (Belgium).