Festa di Compleanno (en)

Giorgio Di Palma, Polignano ℅ Museo Pino Pascali, 2021 

On December 17, 2021, PWR inaugurated the “Festa di Compleanno” (Birthday Party) project at the Pino Pascali Museum in Polignano a Mare, in collaboration with artist Giorgio Di Palma, the Pino Pascali Museum Foundation, Cime, and APS Zic Zic. Thanks to funding from the STHAR LAB initiative of the Apulia Region, we were able to carry out several activities in the area with the citizens of Polignano, culminating in an exhibition by master ceramicist Giorgio Di Palma, who transforms everyday objects into artworks rich with aesthetic and conceptual meaning.

By celebrating past birthday parties, the project aimed to explore the feelings and emotions of citizens who have witnessed the transformation of their seaside and agricultural village into one of the main international tourist destinations.

For this reason, the activities began with an open call, inviting all residents to send us photos of their birthday parties so they could be transformed into works of art. From the submitted images—dating back to the 1970s, 80s, and 90s—we identified essential objects from those celebrations, which Giorgio Di Palma recreated in ceramics, making them timeless and relevant once again. Following the exhibition’s inauguration, on March 5 and 6, 2022, the public was invited to participate in two free workshops on ceramics and micro-publishing.

Using the photos collected in the open call, ZicZic founders Lilia Angela Cavallo and Silvia Tarantini guided adults and children in creating collages together. These works were compiled into a handmade photo album, which was then added to the archives of the Pino Pascali Museum.

The second workshop featured Giorgio Di Palma himself, who led participants in creating ceramic objects using various techniques. He later glazed and fired the pieces in his workshop in Grottaglie, returning to Polignano a Mare to give these objects back to the community.In a long artistic walk, the artist brought the Birthday Party out of the Pino Pascali Museum, discreetly placing ceramic pieces in some of the city’s most iconic locations, allowing residents to discover them by chance. This journey, which began at Cala Paura and passed through the historic center, concluded at the entrance of the Pino Pascali Museum Foundation, where Giorgio Di Palma’s ceramic bunting flags now permanently adorn the museum’s gateway. A piece of the Birthday Party will forever be part of Polignano a Mare.