30th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF SCULPTURES

International Sculpture Symposium of Sprimont

From Wednesday 21 August to Sunday 8 September 2024

To sculptors wishing to participate

APPLY HERE

An organisation of CENTRE D ’INTERPRÉTATION DE LA PIERRE DE SPRIMONT (CIP)

In collaboration with LES CARRIÈRES DE SPRIMONT Blue et LES CARRIÈRES DE LA PRÉALLE S.A.

With the support of LA RÉGION WALLONNE SPW LA PROVINCE DE LIÈGE L’ADMINISTRATION COMMUNALE DE SPRIMONT

Welcome to the 30th edition of the Sprimont stone sculpture symposium! This 20-day event brings together Belgian and international artists to celebrate monumental sculpture in Sprimont blue stone. Sprimont blue stone is a limestone formed some 350,000 million years ago, characterised by the presence of a large number of crinoid debris, giving the stone its sparkling appearance. We invite you to send us your application, your references and a few photos of the prototype of your project for this 2024 edition. We look forward to receiving your application for an unforgettable experience. 

If you would like to take part in the 2024 edition, please:

1. Complete the attached application form and return it before 15 February 2024 by e-mail or post or via the online form https://forms.gle/kbAafQ6vKWp3MEaJ9 ;

2. Send photos or a sketch of the prototype of your project;

3. Attach three good quality photos of recent works (references); It is imperative that these three formalities be completed before 15 February 2024, in order for your application to be registered. You will then receive all the information you need to ensure that the symposium runs smoothly. 

Details of the event:

Official date: From Wednesday 21 August 2024 to Sunday 8 September 2024.

Important notice!!! This year, we invite sculptors to be present from Monday 19 August and no later than Tuesday 20 August 2024. The choice of stones must be made between 15 May and 30 June on the quarry site. For foreign sculptors, the stone will be chosen and installed on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 August. For everyone else, transport and installation will take place during the day on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 August.

Venue: Site of the Centre d'Interprétation de la Pierre et des Carrières de Sprimont, Rue Joseph Potier, 54 in 4140 Sprimont (Belgium).

The organiser

• A raw block offered by the partner quarries (no sawing possible) from which the monumental sculpture will be fashioned. The block will be chosen on site with the quarry foreman.
• Offers three meals a day, including a hot meal, from the morning of Wednesday 21 August until the evening of Sunday 8 September.
• Offers artists free accommodation within a 15-minute radius of Sprimont: it will be possible to accommodate sculptors in a gîte from Monday 19 August until Monday 9 September. It is also possible to pitch a tent, caravan or mobile home directly on the event site (please let us know in advance).
• Provides showers and toilets for sculptors.
• Provides electricity, water and the lifting equipment needed to handle the stones.
• Will make a compressor available to the sculptors, who must however bring the necessary tools, i.e. hammers, pipes and accessories, etc.
• Will take out third-party liability / personal accident insurance.
• If you would like your spouse to accompany you to the symposium, the organiser will ask you to pay €10 per day and €20 per night for meals in the gîte, subject to availability. Priority will always be given to sculptors. 

The organisers decline all responsibility in the event of loss, theft or damage to the sculptors' tools. 

The sculptor

• Will be able to prove that he/she has a civil liability insurance and a professional insurance.
• Will be the sole designer and producer of his work, and/or with an artist defined at the outset,
• Will bring his/her own tools, including a hammer, hoses, if compressed air is used,
• Authorises the CIP to take and distribute photos of him/her and the work carried out during the event,
• Will be present at work on all 20 days of the symposium,
• Will be allowed to add other materials, not provided by the organiser, to the small granite, as long as the latter remains predominant,
• If a stone base is required, it must be ordered, at its own expense, from the Carrières de Sprimont.
• For selected sculptors from outside the European Union, a copy of their passport must be sent by email before 1 April 2024.

In the event of withdrawal, in order to allow another sculptor to take advantage of this event, the sculptor undertakes to inform those in charge of the Centre d'Interprétation de la Pierre before 1 April 2024

Destination of the works

The sculptor undertakes not to dispose of his or her work until 30 August 2025, unless he or she has a proposal to sell it at the 2024 symposium. If the sculptor does not have a proposal for sale during the 2024 symposium, the sculptures created will be exhibited for one year on the site of the CIP or on a municipal site accessible to the public.

After 30 August 2025, the work must be recovered by the sculptor at his own expense, Given the volume of the pieces and the limited exhibition space on the site, any sculpture not recovered (after 30 August 2025) by its sculptor may be moved to the territory of the Commune of Sprimont for storage or exhibition. In the event of a sculpture being moved outside the site of the Centre d'Interprétation de la Pierre de Sprimont, the sculptor will be notified 15 days before the work is moved. In the event of disagreement or no response, the sculptor will have at least 15 days to take back his sculpture. After this period, the CIP may proceed to move the sculpture as announced to the sculptor.

After 30 August 2029, i.e. 5 years of storage of the work on the territory of the Commune and without any expression of interest from the sculptor for his sculpture, the CIP reserves the right to put the work up for sale. During the whole period of taking charge of the work, either on the site of the CIP or on the territory of the Commune of Sprimont, the CIP cannot be held responsible for any damage caused to the work during its exhibition or possible transport.

Insurance is the responsibility of the sculptor. The CIP undertakes to treat the work with due care and to inform the sculptor of the state of the sculpture. The sculptor may at any time request access to and/or repossession of the work before 30 August 2035.