social events at the xxxiii congress
6 September 2014
The gala dinner was held at the Sky Plaza Restaurant, a restaurant situed at the top floor of the People's Palace of Culture, a big multifunctional conference and exhibition centre.
The People's Palace of Culture was opened in 1981 to celebrate the 1300th anniversary of Bulgaria.The centre was initiated by a suggestion of Lyudmila Zhivkova (daughter of the communist leader of the former People's Republic of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov). The project was designed by a team of Bulgarian and foreign architects led by Alexander Georgiev Barov (1931–1999).The building exhibits a unified style, employing an octagonal motif and heavy, dark colours. Large bright murals depicting historical figures and events cover the main wall of many of the smaller halls. But for some reason, the lights were not working when the FIDEM guests arrived. We were met by total darkness and led through what was felt as a big entrance hall to two small elevators. The elevators took all the giggling guests to the 7th floor and then a last walk on stairs to the top floor and the restaurant.
Many prizes were awarded during the gala dinner. Ines Feirreira, since 2007 FIDEM's treasurer, now leaving, was thanked for her work for FIDEM with the FIDEM At '70 medal. Former FIDEM President, Ilkka Voionmaa was thanked for his commitment to FIDEM and presented with a medal made by Ron Dutton. Prof. Bogomil Nikolov received a medal made by Helder Batista for his work of organizing the XXXIII FIDEM congress.
The George Cuhaj Prize recognizing promising artists under the age of 30 was awarded to Hugo Maciel (Portugal). The Cuhaj Award of Distinction went to Reinhard Floren (Germany) and Erika Grniaková (Slovakia). Her award is the first in a lady's bow design.
The Aimo N.K. Viitala prize for a promising young medal artist was awarded to Teodora Draganova (Bulgaria). The motivation of the jury was as follows:
In the spirit of the Aimo Viitala Prize, the jury was concerned to give the award to a medal that was outstanding for its engagement with medallic art, in that its surfaces drew attention, and its finish and use of material were very accomplished. We were attracted to this piece, even though it was one-sided, because the artist had in fact given the medal a temporal quality through the creation of an aperture, which drew the eye onwards, perhaps even to beyond the medal.
One of the new prizes was The Medallic Sculpture Studio Prize - ”One Talent” /for young artists except Bulgarian whch is a medal given by Prof. Bogomil Nikolov to a young talent. The prize medal went to Abigail Burt. This is the motivation from the jury:
It seemed wholly fitting that the inaugural ‘One Talent’ prize – sponsored by Professor Bogomil Nikolov – should go to a young medal maker whose medal is called The Ladder of Life. Abigail Burt, as one of the British Art Medal Society’s ‘New Medallists’, received a bursary to travel to Veliko Tarnavo and participate in the ‘Medallic Sculpture Workshop’ in 2013, making her, as a young artist of promise, eligible for this prize (which is not however open to Bulgarians). The jury admired her concept, that life is a ladder, but also a maze, where one stands at the bottom and looks up towards the unknown, as does a very small figure on the medal. Her finish, patination and medallic shape – including what might be a ‘window of opportunity’ – gave the medal visual and tactile interest.
Another new prize is the Paul Huybrechts prize ”Art Valley 51”. The winners were: Marián Polonský (Slovakia), Keiko Kubota-Miura (USA) and Natasha Ratcliffe (Great Britain).
The Bogomil Honoris Causa award went to João Duarte (Portugal) and the Order of Chiquita went to Carole Howard (USA).
The highlight of the evening, the FIDEM Grand Prix, went to the Russian artist, Irina Suvorova. The Russian delegate, Dr Alla Shkurko, received the prize in her absence.
