On 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th April, Barcelona’s Raval district will be hosting Forja Viva gathering. Barcelona’s Maritime Museum will be staging an international exhibition of forgework as part of the event. The exhibition has been organised by Tallerdeforja.net and the Blacksmiths Association of Catalonia (AFoC), with the support and involvement of the Museu Marítim in Barcelona, the Museu Cau Ferrat in Sitges and the Museu de la Vida Rural in L’Espluga de Francolí.

The exhibition The Living Forge, seeks to reappraise the work of the blacksmith and artistic forgework and will be divided into two diferent areas. The first will include a small selection of forgework from the collections of the Museu de la Vida Rural in L’Espluga del Francolí and the Museu Cau Ferrat in Sitges, and the second will showcase work by contemporary artist blacksmiths from around the world.

Tallerdeforja.net and the AFoC, defend and pursue the same objective and discourse advocated more than a century ago by the artists and intellectuals from the modernism milieux. Santiago Rusiñol, the man behind Cau Ferrat, gave impetus to the regeneration of what had been considered the “minor arts” until then, and gave them equal status with fully-fledged artistic manifestations such as architecture, sculpture, music and painting, ....

This spirit is the linking thread of this initiative which will seek to highlight the connection between past and present, and in which one of the key aspects is to guarantee quality. All the professionals and artists currently working in the field of blacksmithing will be able to take part by filling in the registration form. A commission comprising representatives of the organisation and collaborating bodies will decide which work will be accepted for the exhibition.
From this space we offer our encouragement and support to all the blacksmiths of the 21st century.
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REGISTRATION:

Details of the blacksmith:
Participant’s name
Postal address
E-mail address
Telephone

Technical description of the piece/es:
Title
Dimensions in centimetres, in this order: Maximum height / Maximum width / Maximum depth
Weight
Price
Special requirements for the display (wall fixings, display case, plinth, floor-mounted, can be displayed outside?)
Photograph of the work (If you send the photograph/s by e-mail, the maximum file size per image and e-mail is 4MB.

Entry conditions:
Registration forms must be received no later than 31st March 2010.
The organisers will be responsible for the gallery space, displays, security, layout and distribution of the objects at the museum, as well as the private view and publicising the exhibition.
Any costs resulting from packaging, transport (there and back), customs duty and insurance (if necessary) will be met by the participants.
The selected pieces can be delivered from 19th April until 21st April.From 9 to 18hours.
The exhibition will be taken down over a three-day period from 3rd to 4th May, which will be the deadline for the removal of the work from the museum premises.

Please send your registration form, by 31st March, to the following postal:

Consorci del Patrimoni de Sitges. Museu Cau Ferrat
C/ Fonollar, s/n
08870 Sitges (Barcelona)

e.mail-m.sitges@diba.cat