On Thursday, 27th August, we ceremoniously placed the Phoenix on the rock at the northern entrance to the City of Acrobats. In a wonderful speech by the sculptor, Zoran Poznič, we were touched by the words that »we are entering a new story«. He designed the Phoenix at a time when the Zasavje valleys were still suffering greatly. Without knowing when or how, he sensed that Zasavje would get a second chance and experience a resurgence. »This change is happening here now,« he said, looking towards the area prepared for the construction of the City of Acrobats.

Thus the Phoenix symbolises the connection between the old and the new. Once wealthy, the Zasavje valleys suffered industrial decline, but upon the foundations of this powerful history, it is now transforming like a Phoenix into something new, something magnificent.

In his speech, he also said: »The phoenix has travelled the world, and has now found its true home.« The statue was placed on the rock, after which Jure asked Mr Poznič whether the phoenix would travel to any more exhibitions or if it could be permanently fixed into the rock. »Just pour concrete and fix it in place. It is very obvious that this is its place,« he said.

The Phoenix addresses the individual and society: »Let us rise and look towards the light, which somewhere in the future surely is.«

Without planning it, Feniks found his permanent home on the very day we poured first concrete slab of the City of Acrobats.

More about Phoenix

In 2014, Zoran Poznič created a monumental metal sculpture Phoenix, an approximately three-metre-high work made of iron construction and metal strips. The sculpture originates from the universal myth of the Phoenix, the bird that rises again from its own ashes after destruction, but Poznič's Phoenix is not depicted as a definitively triumphant creature. It is captured in the moment of transformation – like a body that is only just assembling itself, rising after a fall and transitioning from a past to a new state.

The very open metal structure is one of the key characteristics of the work. The robustness of the iron is intertwined with transparency and the voids through which space, light and the environment enter the sculpture. The Phoenix thus speaks of persistence, transformation and the ability to start anew. During its independent presentation in Maribor in 2022, Poznič emphasised that the work was also created with the desire to instil hope in himself and others.

The sculpture already has an exhibition and spatial history spanning more than a decade. In 2014, it was presented in the Lamparna Gallery in Labin, Croatia, later it stood for a longer period in the lobby of the Trbovlje Delavski Dom, in 2021 it was included in the ZDSLU May Salon in Koper, where it was placed in the Mandrač area, in 2022 it became the central and titular work of the solo exhibition Zoran Poznič: Phoenix in the artKIT gallery in Maribor, and in 2024 it was also presented at the BV Galerie in Klagenfurt as part of a cultural exchange between Slovenia and Austria.

The Phoenix is therefore more than just a monumental sculpture. With its image of transition between collapse and a new form, the work remains about man, society, and the ability to reconstitute ourselves after crises, losses, and changes.

Did the mayor sell his work of art to a private company?

As the author of this artwork is currently holding the public office of mayor, we have had the artwork officially appraised to determine its price. Mr Poznič reported the transaction to the CPC – Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, which reviewed the matter and approved the sale.

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