The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana

Published: 6.10.2011

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The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana

The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts, one of the most important events in the area of visual arts, started in the last week of September in Ljubljana. The event will leave a strong mark in Slovenian capital until 20th November. In the following two months, the biennial will occupy all the major art galleries with the event as the central subject.

The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana

The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts, one of the most important events in the area of visual arts, started in the last week of September in Ljubljana. The event will leave a strong mark in Slovenian capital until 20th November. In the following two months, the biennial will occupy all the major art galleries with the event as the central subject.

The Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana is one of the oldest artistic biennial events in Europe and was founded and initially organised in 1955 by the late Zoran Kržišnik, who was the first director of the Modern Gallery in 1947 and its principal since 1957; moreover, he managed the institution for forty years until 1986, when he founded the International Centre of Graphic Arts, which has been the organiser of the Biennial of Graphic Arts ever since. This year`s biennial was curated by Beti Žerovc, who, instead of graphic arts, selected the artistic event to be the predominant media in modern arts; the central exhibition was grouped into four areas: generosity, violence, ritual and emptiness. The selected works were exhibited in six locations in Ljubljana (International Centre of Graphic Arts, Lovec in Sportina, Modern Gallery, Cankarjev dom and Jakopič Gallery).

Since events are the subject of the biennial, many of them will happen `live`. Some artists will even perform their projects for several weeks; for instance, the American duo Praxis and the Austrialian group Bababa International that will fix broken things; however, this will be done in their own, unique way, so that the objects will return as pieces of art. Several projects will be conducted without announcement or after the biennial, according to the wishes of artists. Besides the exhibition portion, the biennial will also have a theoretical portion and numerous side events, including a marathon, a symposium and conversations with the artists.

The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts will examine the following questions:
- Why and how has the event become a suitable vehicle for a variety of artistic purposes, poetics, and content? Why have there been so many such events in recent decades? What is the allure of these events that allows them to attract artists, curators, institutions, and the public?
- How do we define the art event as an artistic medium in concrete terms, marking out its boundaries in a meaningful way and distinguishing it from other events in the field of visual art?
- What, in fact, is the significance of the multitude of events in contemporary art institutions, which, as a rule, at least in terms of their definition and tradition, are intended for the presentation of “static” artworks?

More information on the event and the entire programme is available here – in the link to the official event website.

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