TRIESTE, Italy – Floral forms transform into billowing sails to celebrate the Barcolana sailing regatta, blending the beauty of the natural world with the power of art to craft an ever broader and more inclusive message. After Michelangelo Pistoletto (2015), Gillo Dorfles (2016), Maurizio Galimberti (2017), Marina Abramović (2018), Olimpia Zagnoli (2019), Lorenzo Mattotti (2020), Ron Arad (2021) and Matteo Thun (2022), illycaffè, the artistic director for the Barcolana poster chose an exceptional artist, the American icon of feminist art Judy Chicago, to celebrate the 55th edition of the world’s largest sailing regatta.
This is a powerful choice, using art to further emphasize the event’s commitment to women’s empowerment.
Indeed, Judy Chicago has highlighted the regatta’s dedication to inclusiveness and women’s leadership, transforming into sails the color and forms that have been the hallmark of her work, and showing how art and sports can share the same goals of raising awareness and issuing a strong call-in support of women’s role in society and inclusive sports.
“My entire career has centered on preventing the erasure of women’s history and creating art with meaning. My collaboration with illy and the art created for Barcolana 2023 will hopefully illustrate that art can be a transformative media social change and intellectual growth. I am thrilled that illy shares this same vision with me” said artist Judy Chicago.
“We have once again decided to support the Barcolana, now in its 55th year, and to celebrate it with a poster designed by a renowned artist, a rite that for over twenty years has symbolized our deep ties with the art world” said Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè.
“We have done this together with Judy Chicago, a feminist icon who has always believed in art as a tool for social and intellectual revolution. By transforming her petals into waves shaped by the wind, she reminds us of the importance of fighting for human rights, liberty, and women’s emancipation, in sports and in all other sectors”.
“We are enchanted by the beauty and the force of the message created by Judy Chicago for Barcolana” commented Mitja Gialuz, President of the Sailing Club of Barcola and Grignano.
“At this historical juncture – and as we participate in the Women in Sailing programme, we are implementing with Generali with the support of WorldSailing – to have a poster such as this one is an enormous resource and asset. We would like to thank illycaffè, who every year, through art, adds meaning, value, and vision to our work, showing how sports is a universal language”.
Barcolana is scheduled for October 8th 2023 in the Gulf of Trieste, with a starting time of 10:30, and will be preceded by a series of events both on land and at sea starting on September 29. Registration for the regatta begins online on June 14 at www.barcolana.it. Today, 400 posters and 4000 postcards with the image of the poster will be sent from the Sailing Club of Barcola and Grignano to the yacht clubs and shipowners who participated in previous editions.
