Art Project "109 Flamingos – 109 Years of Giro d'Italia" in Burgas: Art, Sport, and Charity

An art project titled "109 flamingos – 109 years of Giro d'Italia" is about to be installed along the Giro d'Italia route near Burgas. This was announced to BTA by its author, the artist Georgi Andonov.

The installation will include 109 pink flamingo figures, each symbolizing a year in the history of the competition and simultaneously referring to the natural environment of Atanasovsko Lake and some of its popular inhabitants. Out of these, 18 will be dedicated to each of the teams participating in the competition this year. Angelov plans that after the end of the race, each team will sign its flamingo, and at a later stage, the figures will be sold for charitable purposes.

The objects are made of 4-millimeter Alucobond, with over 50 of them completed so far. The choice of pink color unites the symbolism of the birds with the leader's jersey in Giro d’Italia – Maglia Rosa, Andonov adds.

The sculptures will be placed in the space by the roadside from the Sarafovo quarter towards the center of Burgas, where part of the cycling race route will pass. The aluminum figures will be placed in six rows and at a certain distance from each other to create a sense of visual rhythm and pulse that connects sports with the history of the place, the artist commented. The installation will be seen by millions of Giro d'Italia viewers around the world and will turn Burgas into a stage with international visibility, adds the artist Georgi Angelov in his project.

Another of his projects is the pink packaging of the "Trapetzitsa" pedestrian overpass, which, however, was not realized according to his original vision, but only partially. The pedestrian space over the intersection is already covered with pink vinyl featuring the logo of the Burgas Municipality.

Parallel to these projects, the Burgas Art Gallery "Petko Zadgorski" and the National School of Music and Dance (NSMD) "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" are jointly preparing a large-scale urban installation titled "Movement in Color". It is inspired by the dynamics and energy of the Giro d’Italia cycling race, according to the press center of the Burgas Municipality. The project will transform the center of Burgas into a visual route, combining sport, art, and public space through a series of stylized art objects. Under the guidance of professional artists, a team and students from NSMD are creating bicycle models from ecological and lightweight materials, which will be drawn and adapted for the outdoor environment. Each element of the installation will be a separately produced piece, which will be placed at various key locations in the city such as the Burgas Art Gallery, "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" Square, the space in front of the "Clock Tower", and the streets "Konstantin Fotinov" and "Metropolitan Simeon".