City of Florence and Folon Foundation launch photo contest for artist's 90th anniversary

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon (Uccle, 1934 - Principality of Monaco, 2005), illustrator, painter, poera and sculptor, the City of Florence is launching in collaboration with the Fondation Folon a photography contest that aims to raise awareness of the artist’s works distributed throughout the city and to photograph them in their most artistic aspects. The theme of the contest is Folon: between dream and reality, which can be interpreted by photographers with maximum artistic freedom and expression. The contest is aimed at all lovers of photography andiThe participants will be able to register for free. They will have to send their photos by April 30, according to the modalities indicated in the rules that can be found on the municipality’s website.

For the management of the contest and the examining jury there will be the collaboration of the photography group "Il Cupolone APS," a social promotion association dedicated to the promotion of photographic culture and related arts. The jury is composed of the President and two members of the Board of Directors of Il Cupolone APS in Florence, a representative of the Folon Foundation and a representative of the City of Florence: it will have the task of identifying a congruous number of images (minimum 25 images) that will be printed, at the expense of the City of Florence, and put on display during the awards event. From these images, the three prize-winning works (first, second and third prize) will be selected. Prizes of symbolic value, parchment and free admission to the Palazzo Vecchio museum for two people, will be presented by the City of Florence. The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. at the Oblate Library in Florence, Via dell’Oriuolo 24, Sibilla Aleramo Room. During the award ceremony, in addition to the display of the images selected for the exhibition, the images deemed most beautiful and significant will be screened.

Photo submission modalities

The competition includes a single Section for digital files (no printed photos are allowed) and a single theme Folon: between dream and reality, which can be interpreted by photographers with maximum artistic freedom and expression. Both color and black-and-white photographs are allowed.

A maximum number of 8 images may be submitted for each author. On the photographs it is absolutely forbidden to affix the name or surname, signatures or initials, special marks, the title or any other information that could in any way lead to the identification of the author. Failure to comply with this rule will result in exclusion from the contest.

Images must be in jpg format, with the longest side size of 2500 pixels.

Photos should be sent to the email address (in a single submission) florencephotocontest@gfcupolone.net indicating in the subject line of the email “Contest Folon between dream and reality.”

Statements

“Folon loved Florence, and Florence has always loved him back,” stressed Councillor for Culture of Memory Maria Federica Giuliani. “Our city hosts an open-air museum in the Rose Garden, with a significant nucleus of his iconic works, dreamlike sculptures that overlook our city. As many as nine are located at the Rose Garden, which has become a beloved fairy-tale artist’s park for years now.” “That is why,” he added, “together with the Foundation that bears his name and with the photographic group ’Il Cupolone,’ we wanted to celebrate the Master’s 90th birthday by launching this initiative, to honor his talent, he so dreamy and perpetually on the road.” “An artist tied to Italy and Florence in a special way,” the alderman concluded, “he left here forever evidence of his great creativity linked also to social commitment always fighting for human rights, so much so that he donated and forever tied his name to Florence on the occasion of the Social Forum. Florence and Brussels are united by his art and today also in his memory: #folonfirenze.”

“Today photography has invaded all our lives, even excessively,” said the president of the photography group ’Il Cupolone APS’ Simone Sabatini. “Instead, our position is different: to try to make good photographs that will remain forever. Hence the idea of the contest and of printing the photos: photography is printing, not just social and sharing.”

“Folon adored Italy and had a special relationship with Florence,” added Marilena Pasquali, an art historian representing the Brussels-based Folon Foundation in Italy. “The city hosted a major exhibition of his work at Forte Belvedere in the summer of 2005.”

Folon and Florence

The Belgian artist had a special relationship with Florence: the city hosted in the summer of 2005, at Forte Belvedere, one of his major exhibitions curated by Marilena Pasquali. Shortly thereafter, in October, Folon died at the age of 71. “I dream of finding one day in Tuscany, a place, with a garden, with a nice quiet house, where I can leave all these works so that they will exist after me.” This was what Jean-Michel Folon imagined, and at the behest of Paola Ghiringhelli, the artist’s widow, ten bronze sculptures and two plaster casts were donated to the City of Florence following the anthological exhibition held at Forte Belvedere in 2005. Florence is in fact among the cities in the world with the greatest concentration of his art. Nine are on display in the Rose Garden under Piazzale Michelangelo: Un oiseau (1993), Chat-oiseau (1994), Chat (1996), Vingt-cinquième pensée (2001), Méditerranée (2001), Panthère (2003), Je me souviens (2003), Partir (2005), L’envol (2005). The bronze statue Walking (2003), on the other hand, is placed in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati, headquarters of the Region, while on Lungarno Aldo Moro is the bronze fountain Pluie - Rain, three meters high, donated following the 2003 Social Forum. The work The Man of Peace was purchased by the Rotary Club and then donated to the City of Florence and placed in 2005 in Children’s Square in Beslan.

Pictured, Jean Michel Folon, Partir (2002; bronze, 248 x 298 x 78 cm; Florence, Rose Garden)

City of Florence and Folon Foundation launch photo contest for artist's 90th anniversary

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