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5/9/2007

27th Biennial of Graphic Arts

Grad Tivoli, Ljubljana

THE 27th BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS brings eight views on art prints, the common thread of these different exhibitions being reproducibility of art. As its specific characteristic, the reproducibility of art, first occurs with the first prints in the Renaissance, becomes a decisive influence on twentieth century art, and is also relevant today. The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts is comprised of the main Biennial exhibition, the already traditional exhibition of the artist awarded the Grand Prize at the previous Biennial, and six accompanying exhibitions prepared by various galleries in Ljubljana.

Exhibitions of Reproducible Art

The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts takes as its point of departure, and theme for reflection, that turning point in the history of art when the ease of technical reproduction made reproducibility a new quality in the work of art thus transforming the very concept of art in essential ways. At the same time, it makes reference to the theses of the renowned philosopher Walter Benjamin and their subsequent development in contemporary art theory. The reproducibility of art has changed the way we understand the notions of the copy and the original. It has influenced new meanings of authorship, the roles of the artist and the technician, the link between technology and art, and so on. Reproducibility has led to multiple production, wider accessibility, and an artwork’s ability to be simultaneously present in different situations and socio-political environments. Artists have welcomed reproducibility as something that gives them new and diverse possibilities for expression and content.

Eight exhibitions at the 27th Graphic Arts Biennial present a variety of art forms, from traditional printmaking to printed matter, video, photography, and computer- and Web-based art.

The Unbound Eyes of Anxiousness
The main exhibition of the 27th Ljubljana Graphic Arts Biennial, 6. 9.–28. 10. 2007

Exhibition spaces: International Centre of Graphic Arts; Ljubljana municipal bus service; Billboards, Ljubljana; Modna hiša, Ljubljana; Mercator Center Maribor; Mercator Center Celje; Maximarket arcades, Ljubljana; Poster sites, Ljubljana; Ribji trg, Ljubljana; Websites www.india.si and www.jaka.org/2007/razorganizator; The catalogue of the 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts; Private apartments, Ljubljana

The Ljubljana Graphic Arts Biennial always understood tradition as a value. Not surprisingly then, a look to the past is also weaved in to this year's main biennial exhibition The Unbound Eyes of Anxiousness. This exhibition presents artists from various generations and stylistic orientations who have, in the past years and decades, marked art and society in Slovenia as well as internationally. The title of the exhibition speaks of the key moment in artistic creation - when a given idea gains a visual form: the creative anxiousness present in the mind of artist thus becomes unbound, freed of »chaos«, and is transformed in to a visible work of art. This is why the exhibition stresses the creative process of art and the figure of the artist as an intellectual.
The Gallery of the International Centre of Graphic Arts presents artists of different generations and who uses various creative approaches in their artistic work. Their works speak of personal, social and political themes as well as research in to the language of visual creation itself. In both cases, these works are nonetheless part of a social reality that they also form and comment upon.
That part of the main exhibition that takes up public non-gallery and media space is part of a complex public discourse and exists as a message in the media world of communication. Here the participating artists research the economic, political and social structures surrounding them and materialize their findings through the language of art. On the other hand, it is up to the multitude of potential viewers of the thus conceived and displayed works to notice them among all the other available information, and to recognize these works as containing relevant artistic messages.
For more than one hundred years the book has been a potential space for visual creativity and representation. Five contributions to The Unbound Eyes of Anxiousness gain exhibition space in the Catalogue of the 27th Graphic Arts Biennial (it was the 25th Biennal that first saw the catalogue deployed as an exhibition space!). Therefore, the reader/viewer can traverse from the documentary to the creative in just one publication.
As they form one of the „last stops“ of art, private apartments have also been included as actual exhibition spaces of the Biennial. Works of art displayed in these apartments speak not only of collecting and ownership, but also of the personal and intimate relationships individuals have to the works of art that they posses. These works of art take on a life that is different from the life they have when exhibited in public spaces or as part of a predictable museum presentation. Six private apartments in the centre of Ljubljana will present the works of artists from the permanent collection of the International Centre of Graphic Arts.
The exhibition The Unbound Eyes of Anxiousness is curated by Lilijana Stepančič, Breda Škrjanec and Božidar Zrinski

Stigma
Exhibition of the winner of the Grand Prize of the 26th Biennial
6. 9.–28. 10. 2007, Cankarjev Dom Gallery

It is a tradition of the Ljubljana Graphic Arts Biennial to present a solo exhibition of work by the artist who won the Grand Prize at the previous Biennial. At the 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts, the Grand Prize was awarded to the organizers of the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Poly/Graphic Triennial of Latin America and the Caribbean. An exhibition of the art of Puerto Rico presents contemporary reproducible art from Latin America and the Caribbean, and illustrates a politics of validating art outside the centres of capital and political power.
In the tradition of the Catholic church, bodily stigmata, various signs on the body, wounds, and feelings of pain, occur in the same places as the wounds of the crucified Jesus Christ. Similarly to the carimbo, i.e. the branding of slaves with the names or initials of their “owners”, stigmata cannot be erased either. Jorge Luis Borges claims that feelings of shame, degradation, and scandal are also a source upon which artists draw for inspiration.
The exhibition shows how artists from Puerto Rico deal with personal, racial, social, and other stigmata. The selfish arson of an artist's studio, the humble transformation through self-punishment, and other symbols of shame, are one part of the collection of works exhibited in Stigma. At the same time, the characteristics of the other part of the exhibition are irony, parody, the worship of ways in which art marks life, and the transformation of urban environments into visual patterns and meaningful images.
The artworks which are part of Stigma give rise to doubt in the role of the artist as well as the goal of art pursued in a global society. These works originate in the need to create images that are referential to the essential problems of our times. War, colonialism, prejudices, technology, tourism, and unbridled violence are the main problems that Puerto Rico confronts today. At the same time, however, artists from Puerto Rico also draw attention to the fact that their own local problems are actually also the problems that the whole world faces as well.
Curated by Marimar Benítez

FROM THE STERNENS TO THE COMIC STRIP / ACCOPMANYING EXHIBITIONS

Thomas Nozkowski
Works on Paper
13. 8.–9. 9. 2007, Prostori zbirke Mestne galerije Ljubljana / The City Art Museum Ljubljana, Permanent Collection Gallery
Thomas Nozkowski’s paintings on paper map the terrain of the mind: its memories, delights, and histories. They are often larger than his canvases yet they are not studies; they are finished, articulate, and raw. In a world increasingly isolated and digitally rootless, Nozkowski’s quirky works reassure the viewer that art can still be hand-made, touching, smart, and personal. These works are some of the most important objects now being produced in New York.
Curated by Aleksander Bassin

The Artist Book
New Acquisitions by the P74 Center and Gallery
3. 9.–20. 9. 2007, Center in Galerija P74 / P74 Center and Gallery
An artist book is an idea of a book that is wholly conceived by an artist, and is a work of art. P74 Center and Galllery aquired the first artist's books in 2003. The exhibition accompanying the 27th Biennial will present the new acquisitions in the P74 Center and Gallery collection, a collection that today has more than thirty different titles.
Curated by Urška Jurman

Musée Ferraille
4. 9.–16. 9. 2007, Galerija Kapelica / Kapelica Gallery
The Musée Ferraille is a museum type exhibition that introduces us to the history of comic strip character Mr. Ferraille, his rise and fall, his mutations through time as well as those of his makers - Waltshluss and Gonz. Mr. Ferraille, an iron robot, made his first appearance in the newspapers in 1924, and praised the elixir of eternal youth. Due to the success of this wondrous elixir, and popularity among youth, the authors first honoured Mr. Ferraille, „the gentleman made out of scrap metal“, with an ilustrated booklet Mr. Ferraille. Then, in 1931, came the magazine Ferraille Illustré. And the success story continued ...
The Museum was established in 2003 by the French society Les Requins Marteaux. It first went on public display at the international comic strip festival Angoulême 2003.
Production: Stripburger/Forum Ljubljana

3500 cm2
Art Poster Project
5. 9.–20. 9. 2007, Galerija Alkatraz / Alkatraz Gallery

The name 3500 cm2 refers to the size of the poster put at the disposal of an artist in order to create an artwork. The project develops along two axis. The first is uniqueness (a work created by an artist specifically for a single occasion), while the second concerns repetition (the multiplication of the given work for everyone who attends the event). On the one hand, therefore, the poster is a mass object that disseminates an image. On the other, however, it is also an artist’s edition.
The project 3500 cm2 thus becomes an alternative way of constructing a cultural platform that amplifies the communicative possibilities of art. As a modular project, 3500 cm2 can be adapted to, and developed in, different situations. The single most important aim of the project is to constantly create dialogue with the public.
Curated by Lorenzo Benedetti

Printed at MGLC
5. 9.–21. 9. 2007, Galerija Kresija / Kresija Gallery
Along with its other activities, the International Centre of Graphic Arts is also a publisher of original art prints. Since its founding in 1986, the Centre has organized the printing of the works of many important and well-known artists and has hosted numerous artists in its studios. We are proud, too, that many of these artists have donated their entire graphic oeuvre to the Centre. Prints produced by MGLC have won a number of international awards, which, in turn, only confirms the high quality of our printmaking expertise. On display will be a selection of artwork from the printmaking studios of the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC).
Co-ordinated by Petra Klučar

First Impressions
The Beginnings of the Modern Art Print in Slovenia
4. 9.–14. 10. 2007, Narodna galerija – Galerija Narodni dom / National Gallery of Slovenia – National House Gallery
In 1921, a new generation of young Slovene artists entered the art scene, first paving the way for art prints and then bringing this medium to its height in the so-called Ljubljana school of graphic arts in the second half of the twentieth century. Before this, and between 1900 to 1920, we witness sporadic and spontaneous attempts in the field of art prints and printmaking. These were conceived by some Slovene artists who, under the influence of living through the problematics of painting, and the rise increasingly intensive visual communications, saw graphic arts and printing as offering new possibilities for their creativity. Their research into the medium, and experimentation in the techniques of coloured wood cuts, dry point, etchings, and other techniques, was usually concluded with small print runs and without any public presentation of the work in question.
Curated by Andrej Smrekar

Catalogue
The exhibition catalogue of the 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Slovene and English, contains theoretical texts, presentations of participating artists and works as well as five art projects made especially for the catalogue.
Accompanying programme
The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts will be accompanied by a diverse programme of guided tours of the various exhibitions; workshops for children and adults; lectures in Slovene, English and Croatian; film screenings; discussions; a tea party; a symposium for art school teachers; a round table, etc.

Organizer: International Centre of Graphic Arts
Co-organizers:
Alkatraz Gallery
Cankarjev dom, Culture and Congress Center
City Art Museum Ljubljana
Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Kapelica Gallery
National Gallery of Slovenia
P74 Center and Gallery
Stripburger/Forum Ljubljana

Main sponsor: Mercator d.d.
Sponsors: ACH d.d., Gorenje d.d., Lek d.d., Petrol d.d., Marand d.o.o.
Media sponsors: Europlakat d.o.o., Radio Center, Delo d.d.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana,
Österreichisches Kulturforum Laibach, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lubiana, Goethe-Institut Ljubljana

Information
Lili Šturm: + 386 (0)1 241 3818, lili.sturm@mglc-lj.si

Helena Podgorelec: + 386 (0)1 241 3810, graficni.bienale@mglc-lj.si

Mednarodni grafični likovni center / International Centre of Graphic Arts
Grad Tivoli, Pod turnom 3, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

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