29 June 2024 Yesterday, Fashion.at visited the Parallel Sculpture Park in Gmunden a few hours before its official opening and walked through the Toscana Park on the peninsula at Lake Traunsee, where until the end of August sculptures by around 45 artists have been placed in both expected and unexpected places, such as trees. Leopold II of Austria-Tuscany, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife once commissioned the construction of the Villa Toscana in 1869/70, which overlooks the park. Despite the work on the stage for the upcoming Bruckner concerts, the atmosphere in the park was relaxed and pervaded by an almost magical silence. The guests strolled along the paths that led from the villa down the gentle hill to the lake, some walking on the green grass or sitting in the shade of the trees. At the bottom of the hill, a group rested comfortably by the water, some stood in the cooling lake, a couple even swam. It was a hot day. There is a path with benches along the shore. Fashion.at relaxed on one with a view of the 1691-meter Traunstein, where paragliders were taking advantage of the light wind on this sunny, blue-sky early afternoon. Gmunden, nestled in the mountainous Salzkammergut, has a Mediterranean flair. This impression is reinforced by the sighting of several Mediterranean seagulls, familiar from the shores of the sea. Sailboats, sporty motorboats and guestlines cruised the lake. After the short break, Fashion.at continued the walk along the path to the southernmost tip of the peninsula, where a triptychon-like sculpture catches the eye of visitors. Already from a distance, the three parts of the sculpture seem to be interdependent. Their opaque, brightly colored panels move in the breeze, such as communicating with each other. Two women worked on the sculptures. One of them was the artist herself, Eva Petric, who has exhibited all over the world - and also in space through her collaborations with space organizations - and in disciplines ranging from textile works, which were exhibited for example in the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, to perfume, inspired by a project to keep astronauts grounded with scents of nature, which actually made a space flight (the themes of the three scents are also linked to the three-part sculpture in Toscana Park; fragrances presented on https://www.instagram.com/p/CrvdOQWOnEP/), or jewelry, such as her current exhibition at the renowned V&V Gallery for art jewelry in Vienna. Yesterday, Eva Petric wore a necklace from the 'E@motionOmeter' collection, which is on display in the showcase of Galerie V&V at Bauernmarkt 19 in the city's 1st district. The necklace is made of silver wire and plexiglass from light boxes used in public spaces for advertising, with the hand-engraved lace-patterned shadow of the aritist's body. The lace-patterned shadows are characteristic of Eva Petric's work and are inspired by the natural sciences of the building blocks of life. They appear like genomes, like the genetic information of an organism. Fashion.at spoke with Eva Petric about her triptychon-like sculpture 'DataBank@futureGARDEN'. The sculpture makes the visitor aware of the information that we, the 'earthlings' from space, carry within us like in a database, and that it's up to humankind to process the data or information that nature provides for our actions for a 'future garden' or an intact nature in the future. In our conversation, Eva Petric talked about her interest in space, the material life is made of, and the impact of humanity on the future of the Earth. The sculpture dedicated to the Earth is probably the most interesting of the three-part work in a planetary circle with Mars and the Moon. Eva Petric introduced 'Earth for Empathy' as resembling the musical instrument xylophone - which doesn't make any sound in this artwork, but visually enhances the silence of nature, which is always there even when we can't hear or see it, like a light wind. When the wind moves the panels, the silent song of the environment begins to play. All we have to do is listen. Image: The picture shows Eva Petric standing behind the 'Earth for Empathy' of her three-part sculpture 'DataBank@futureGARDEN', which will be exhibited in the Parallel Sculpture Park in Toscana Park in Gmunden until the end of August 2024. For more pictures of the sculpture in the park, visit Eva Petric's https://www.instagram.com/eva_petric_angel_hound/. |
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