Probably the largest sculpture museum in the Balkans, in a place that you won’t discover so easily. Former military barracks in the forest, hidden and proud. Terracotta sculptures by artists from all over the world are presented in it. And that’s for the story, to be passed down for generations…
Driving to Kikinda introduces me to different soul levels, more and more peace and air inside (cells) where it has not been for a long time. There is no one on the streets of Kikinda, except for a cat or a cyclist. Peace and quiet is everyday state of mind, every now and then a car on the street breaks it down.
And then I enter another world, the gate of which is officially opened by the friendly guard of the Museum.
The wind that day was making those strange sounds in the high canopies around the Museum. They bend and dance irregularly, casting shadows among the works in this temple of art.
The museum is a large space (over 2,000 square meters) where the works of artists are exhibited, who traditionally, for decades, have been invited to the Symposium every summer and created a sculpture on the spot that will forever remain part of the Museum. There are over 1,000 sculptures in the museum collection.
The place where the artists create is Atelje Terra, an abandoned clay field that was once used by the “Toza Marković” factory. There is also an open-air gallery, an art park.
Each sculpture tells its own story. They are like us, living people in dramas, fantasies, sleepy and heavy with thoughts that collide with them, just like the wind that somewhere on the roof cannot find a way out.
And so I get to know these new faces and figures, their shapes and forms, and above all the untold stories that need to be listened to and processed.
Miro Vuco, Biljana Petrovic, Marko Crnobrnja, Aleksandar Bukvic, Mirsad Begic, Milan Blanusa, Vladimir Komad, Nandor Glid and many others created an artistic and social spectacle for me.
Each of these grandiose terracotta sculptures was for a moment my friend, my therapist, my other self or a character from a novel I love. Some just winked at me, extended their hand. Some gulped hard. I heard grunts and curses from some.
This is an intimate space definitely, a house for artists where their testimony of the life of a work of art that never stops breathing remains forever.
Thanks to Alexander and Verica for the inspiring conversation, meeting you made the wind and shadows add an even greater dimension to this unique space.
