Ceramics and Sculpture
- Focus Area: Ceramics and Sculpture
- Region: Region of Istria
- About Laboratory: Creative Living Lab dedicated to Ceramics and/or Sculpture, took place from 10 to 20 March in Labin, Pula, Vodnjan and Rovinj. Organised by the Labin Open Public University and the Art Studio Association, it resulted in artistic and applied works, as well as prototypes for sustainable tourism products. The programme was led by Ana Dundara Pajić, Stephanie Peršić, Manuela Zupan, Igor Fabris, Rino Banko and Henry Marić, together with artist-mentor Michele Giangrande. Clay serves as the primary material underlying both the craft and artistic dimensions of the laboratory. Its application and conceptual exploration from both functional and artistic perspectives with emhasies on traditional craftmanship and innovative toursim products was presented through a versatile programme that included workshops on functional ceramic objects led by Henry Marić and Igor Fabris of the Artstudio Association, alongside artistic projects and conceptual approaches developed with artists Rino Banko and Michele Giangrande. The CLL programme and main goals were presented to the wider public thrpugh round table discussion on ceramics and sculpture, held on 17 March at Gallery Novo in Pula. The discussion addressed the contextualisation and connections between the earliest historical examples of functional objects and artistically conceived figurative forms, and contemporary approaches to art and applied practice. Participants were Tatjana Bradara and Ph.D. Alka Starac, Senior Museum Advisors at the Archaeological Museum of Istria, artist-mentor Michele Giangrande (IT), and artist Rino Banko (HR). Throughout the different laboratory days, field research visits to Roman Amhithteatre and Archaeological Museum of Istria participants collaboratively developed artistic prototypes of a cultural-tourism concept that constituted the final outcomes, aimed at fostering sustainable and intellectually engaged approaches to the cultural touris. The artistic prototypes developed by selected artists Michele Giangrande and Rino Banko were presented in a group exhibition featuring participants from all Istrian Creative Living Labs, alongside the presentation of the storytelling narratives documenting all thirteen international Creative Living Labs organised within the SOCRAT project held on 7th of July 2026 at the Archaeological Museum of Istria.
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Michele Giangrande artist, writer and designer was born in Bari in 1979. He has been a Decoration teacher at the School of Fine Arts of Catanzaro and a Painting Techniques teacher at the School of Fine Arts of Lecce. Currently he is a Decoration teacher at the School of Fine Arts of Bari.
A very versatile artist, provided with scathing irony, transfigures reality playing with the concepts of being and appearing. Since the first researches he has lent the objects chosen, mostly in common use, a new identity. For years he has been running a search which draws inspiration from what’s archaic, primitive, from rereading the past, through a systemic approach to painting, sculpture, handicraft, performance, cinema, installation and architecture.
Starting with his origins, the artist decides to go all the way back to folk traditions and Human History itself, ending with the first artistic expressions and, by doing so, gathering the fundamental sparkle of it and trapping it in his works.
Giangrande’s search is intended to be an attempt to detect in the remote past a present but forward-looking communication, through a playful and analytic journey which starts from his own memories going through, with accurate levity, the very genesis of the making.
He has participated in a number of solo exhibitions, collective exhibitions and group exhibitions. His works of art can be found in museums, in private and public collections in Italy and abroad.
His search has been subject of studies, of graduation thesis and of several conferences, including the most recent held at the Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatán di Mérida (Mexico) thanks to Prof. Giuliana Schiavone and to the technical support of Julio Cesar Beltran.
Many reviews for his work have appeared onto sector newspapers and magazines such as FlashArt, Insideart, Segno, Exibart, Artribune, ARTEeCRITICA, Espoarte, Arte Mondadori, Interni.
More than sixty are his publications in solo or group catalogs. In his path he met a number of art critics and curators, journalists and operators.
Currently Giangrande durably or periodically collaborates with several public and private institutions such as the Pino Pascali Foundation Contemporary Art Museum, the C.A.S.A. gallery of Polignano a Mare, the Gigi Rigliaco Gallery of Lecce, the Mucciaccia Contemporary gallery of Rome and the Savina Gallery of Moscow / Saint Petersburg.
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Rino Banko works in the field of visual arts, sculpture, and design objects, utilizing traditional materials such as stone, wood, ceramics, and metal. His primary focus lies in the materials themselves—exploring their inherent limits and the interplay between matter and form. He is an active member of the Quark Ceramics Center at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka (APURI), where he conducts research into digital modeling and 3D printing in ceramics.
Alongside his academic work, he runs his own art studio, engaging in a diverse range of projects within the arts and their application in both exterior and interior spaces. In addition to his exhibition work, he has completed several sculptural projects that are permanently installed in public spaces. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Rector’s Award from the University of Rijeka (UNIRI).
He earned his Master’s degree in Sculpture from the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka in 2018, where he currently serves as an assistant in the Department of Sculpture, teaching within the undergraduate and graduate programs in Applied Arts and Art Education. Over the years, he has exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions both in Croatia and abroad—including in Zagreb, Rijeka, Kostrena, Opatija, Lovran, Labin, Pula, Umag, Piran, and Koper (Slovenia), as well as Düsseldorf (Germany). Notable exhibitions include the International Ceramics Exhibition in Piran (*Keramos: Here and Now – A Look at Contemporary Ceramics*) and the International Exhibition of Drawings and Sculptures in Koper (*May Salon*). At the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka, he participated in an exhibition organized in collaboration with ICOM Croatia (International Committee of Museums, UNESCO) as part of the *Participatory Museums in the Community* project. Other significant exhibitions include *Twins* (featuring ceramics from Rijeka and Faenza), the 13th and 14th Triennial of Croatian Sculpture, his solo exhibition of sculptures and drawings titled *Portals* at the Cvajner Gallery in Pula, and the solo exhibition *Inhabited Sculpture* at the Student Dormitory Gallery in Pula. He has worked on set design for several film productions, most notably Ridley Scott’s *Gladiator II* and Netflix’s *Valhalla*.
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The Art Studio Association was founded in February 2008, driven by its members' desire to foster free, creative, and cultural expression among children, youth, the employed and unemployed, retirees, children with developmental difficulties, and individuals with special needs. The Association carries out activities aimed at improving the quality of life, with a particular focus on the elderly, whose social lives we strive to enrich. Our activities are centered on the socialization of retirees through shared interaction, using ceramics as a specific art form. This helps older individuals overcome feelings of isolation and loneliness, as well as the sense that they are no longer socially useful. Through ceramics workshops, they are integrated into the community; this not only supports their psychological stability but also indirectly contributes to their physical well-being by strengthening their motor skills. Art Studio Gallery is Association's gallery space showcasting the rich artistic expression of the Association’s members, with a primary focus on ceramics. The gallery’s exhibitions also feature work by participants from long-term projects conducted by the Association: residents of the Alfredo Štiglić Home for the Elderly and Infirm in Pula, as well as individuals with intellectual disabilities from the Centre for Inclusion and Community Support—all of whom created their pieces during ceramics workshops.
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The Public Open University of City of Labin is a public cultural, educational, and informational institution founded by the City of Labin. The institution offers educational programs and cultural content for all generations, fostering lifelong learning and community development. It organizes and carries out activities in the fields of adult education, cinema, performing arts, and museum and gallery operations. A specific branch of the institution is the Labin National Museum, located in the historic old town within the Baroque Battiala-Lazzarini Palace. Its museum and gallery activities also encompass two off-site collections: the Matija Vlačić Ilirik Memorial Collection (at G. Martinuzzi Street 8) and the Collection of Sacral Art (housed in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary / St. Mary the Comforter). Additionally, the Labin City Gallery - an important venue for showcasing contemporary art - is situated in the former Luciani Palace. Each of the Labin Public Open University’s activities contributes to the social, cultural, historical, and artistic life of the city of Labin and its surrounding area.