Last week, the East Slovak Gallery in Košice hosted a presentation of the publication International Sculpture Symposia in Metal 1967–1974, compiled by VSG curator Miroslav Kleban.

The guests were welcomed by the director Dorota Kenderová. On behalf of U. S. Steel Košice, Michael Piekut and Miroslav Kiraľvarga with their wives took part in the event . A very nice guest was one of the initiators of these symposia, sculptor Juraj Bartusz.

A comprehensive encyclopaedic handbook introduces the reader to the origin and course of individual years of sculpture symposia in metal, which took place in the then East Slovak Ironworks. The creation of the publication was supported by the U. S. Steel Košice Foundation.

"This publication takes us back more than 50 years and is linked to steel. Steel is one hundred percent recyclable and finds its application even in art. We should pay tribute to all those who work every day to make steel, to those engineers who design and ensure the production of steel products, and to those artists who are able to breathe life into cold metal. Many of these works, which are listed in the publication, will probably no longer be found, but many are and are proof that steel is indestructible," said Miroslav Kiraľvarga in his speech.

Miroslav Kleban said in his presentation of the book: "It is a topic that I have been dealing with for several years, I have tried to use a large number of archival materials related to these symposia.  This is how the idea arose to process all these materials into a professional publication. It is built exclusively on archival, period materials, it is illustrated with period black and white photographs of works that were installed in Košice. These symposiums were also something new for the employees of VSŽ, the artists were given a unique opportunity to work with material that was not easy to get to and at the same time they had to learn to work with new technologies. These symposiums provided space for the creation of truly monumental works that could not be created in the spaces of their studios."

On the cover photo from the left: Michael Piekut, Juraj Bartusz, Dorota Kenderová and Miroslav Kiraľvarga.

Photo: Arpád Köteles