“CONFUCIUS” ART DONATION CEREMONY

On December 17, 2013, the donation ceremony of the work “Confucius” created by Zhang Huan, was held at the Florence Airport on the occasion of the “Soul and Matter”. The exhibition was held last summer in Florence in two exceptional locations –  Palazzo Vecchio and Forte di Belvedere. After 3 months of exhibition at the Salone dei Cinquecento, the work, donated by the artist to the city of Florence, finds its temporary home inside the Florence Airport.

The event organization agency Once Extraordinary Events, in addition to having managed relations with involved institutions and forwarding the invitation to a selected mailing list, was responsible for managing all aspects of logistics and set-up. They also took care of relations with the media and communication of the event by designing and creating the graphic layout of the invitation, information totem and photography panel.

Concept
“Confucius” is the first work made of Carrara marble by Zhang Huan, one of the greatest exponents of contemporary Chinese art: starting from a sketch by the artist, the skilled stonemasons of the Michelangelo Cave Art Studios thus reproduced the iconographic image of Confucius, one of the symbolic figures of Chinese culture. With the choice of this material, the artist wanted to pay homage to Renaissance sculpture, which he was deeply fascinated by during his travels in Italy. “Confucius” is the sculptural representation of the meeting between East and West, between very distant cultures and artistic traditions, which find therein a perfect aesthetic fusion.

Among the numerous institutions present at the ceremony, those who spoke were: the President of the Florence Airport Marco Carrai, the Tourism Councilor of the Municipality of Florence Sara Biagiotti, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China Wang Xinxia, the President of the Province of Prato Lamberto Gestri and – representing President Rossi – the Councilor for Infrastructure of the Tuscany Region Vincenzo Ceccarelli.