NEWS

THE 31ST BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS IN LJUBLJANA

28 Aug 2015

THE 31ST BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS IN LJUBLJANA

28. 8.–3. 12. 2015

OVER YOU

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YOU

The title of the 31st Biennial of Graphic Arts Over you / you is copied from a quick note in the corner of a drawing by Martin Kippenberger. It seems like an unsolved equation or supposition indicating the instability of the image that can be reproduced. The Biennial explores how the techniques of reproduction are used by visual artists as strategies for communication and circulation. At the same time it investigates the potential of what can be endlessly copied, focusing on the countless possible ways of understanding the concept of reproduction. The Biennial focuses on the artist who resists the completeness and uniqueness of the work of art with “antisingularity”. This is achieved by the contemporary practices that relate to the history of extreme dispersion. The moving image is fundamental to our contemporary information economy. Placing the image into motion as it collides with the fixed framework of the printed or marked surface establishes a delicate balance of forces between the artworks. This instability is reflected in the concept of the exhibition that seeks to resist linearity and conclusion, instead reflecting the creative process of the participating artists by emphasizing the non-logical and associative.

Curated by Nicola Lees
Associate Curators Stella Bottai and Laura Mclean-Ferris

The Thirty-first Biennial of Graphic Arts concists of:
the main exhibition Over you / you (on display at the International Centre of Graphic Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, Tivoli Park, Jakopič Promenade, National and University Library, Kresija Gallery), the traditional exhibition by the award-winner, María Elena González (on display in the Gallery of Cankarjev dom).

ACCOMPANYING EXHIBITIONS AT THE 30TH BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS

Giles Round: Ljubljana, 1955 (2015)
venue: The Jakopič Gallery

Becky Beasley: Sleep is when you grow
venue: ŠKUC Gallery
curator: Vladimir Vidmar

28 August–27 September

Exhibition of the biennial posters
venue: NLB Gallery Avla
6 August–3 December

EXHIBITION OF THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER OF THE 30TH BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS

MARÍA ELENA GONZÁLEZ, TREE TALK SERIES

28. 8.–1. 11. 2015

María Elena González is the recipient of the Grand Prix, the Biennial’s main prize, for her series of works entitled Tree Talk exhibited at the 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana (2013). The award-winning series in the artist’s solo exhibition displayed in the Gallery of Cankarjev dom is supplemented with her latest production made especially for the Ljubljana show. María Elena González is actually a sculptor who uses innovative ways to expand her projects into the field of the graphic arts, music composition and performance. The exhibition Tree Talk Series stems from the author’s inspiration when faced with a fallen birch. She flattened the bark of the birch with its specific structure, produced a series of drawings and etchings, and then scanned the furrowed patterns and had them laser cut into rolls for a mechanical piano (pianola). The exhibition features the latest drawings, etchings, fine art prints, a video projection and rolls for the mechanical piano, which reveal the artistic process and fascination with the forms that the artist encountered in nature. In cooperation with local musicians, a part of the exhibition is also a musical event, where visitors can listen to and hear the music of the birch trees. The scores, which are full of phrasing, polyphony and rhythm, are surprisingly modern for today’s times.

Curated by Božidar Zrinski
venue: The Gallery of Cankarjev dom

ARTIST LIST OF 31ST BIENNIAL OF GRAPHIC ARTS

Reza Abdoh / Giorgio Andreotta Calò / AVA (Vanja Erjavec, Evelina Hägglund, Ana Jagodic, Zala Kobe, Nina Oblak, Gregor Rozman, Luka Savić and Sanja Vatič) / Becky Beasley / Chris Beauregard / Will Benedict / Wolfgang Breuer / Andrea Büttner / Bureau of Loose Associations present LUXUS / Ellen Cantor / castillo/corrales / Declan Clarke / Mike Cooter / Qëndresë Deda / Braco Dimitrijević / Shannon Ebner / Luca Frei / Enej Gala / Index Books Peter Gidal / Karpo Godina / David Gothard / Meta Grgurevič / Andrew Hazewinkel / Stewart Home / Tom Humphreys / Ištvan Išt Huzjan / Sanya Kantarovsky / Aidan Koch / Gabriel Kuri / Adriana Lara / Hilary Lloyd / Goshka Macuga / David Maljković / Nick Mauss and Ken Okiishi / Oscar Murillo / New Collectivism / Pilar Quinteros / Asad Raza / Josefine Reisch / Lili Reynaud Dewar / Giles Round / Luka Savić / Thirteen Black Cats (Vic Brooks, Evan Calder Williams and Lucy Raven) / Phillip Zach / Akram Zaatari

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Since 2013, Nicola Lees has been the curator for Frieze Projects, the annual not-for-profit programme featuring artist commissions, film, and music at Frieze London. Nicola was previously Senior Curator of Public Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery, London, where she oversaw interdisciplinary, time-based and performance projects, artist commissions, initiating Park Nights and the Serpentine Cinema series, and realizing the Serpentine Gallery Marathon (co-curated with Hans Ulrich Obrist). In 2007 she curated the exhibition ‘Left Pop Bringing it Home’ at the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art and worked on key solo exhibitions by Alex Katz, Miroslaw Balka, and a group exhibition with Philippe Parreno at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

ABOUT THE BIENNIAL

The Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, founded in 1955, was born within the specific geo-political conditions of the former Yugoslavia. The exhibition quickly became a unique meeting point for artists of the sharply polarized West and East. Although aesthetically the Biennial advanced the hegemony of the Western-oriented artistic canon, at the same time, and with considerable self-assurance, it advocated and promoted artistic pluralism. This made it one of the few places where artistic production from a large part of the world, which was at the time excluded from the dominant discourse, was given an opportunity to present itself on an equal footing with the west. The Biennial has continuously reflected the developments and transformations of the fine art print. It is seen as one of the print biennials that has most radically expanded the borders of the medium and redefined the notion of printmaking.

The 24th edition of the Biennial in 2001 (curated by Stephan Coppel, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Gregor Podnar and Breda Škrjanec) linked traditional printmaking with contemporary art practices. The 25th Biennial of Graphic Arts in 2003 (curated by Christophe Cherix) focused on the value of books, journals, magazines, bulletins and other publications in terms of both function and content. The 26th Biennial in 2005 paid tribute to the fifty-year history of the Biennial and was composed of eighteen smaller scale exhibitions prepared by renowned global institutions specializing in the graphic arts. The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts (2007) was curated by the International Centre of Graphic Arts with a Benjaminian take on the concepts of reproducibility. The current concerns triggered in art and society by the cult film trilogy The Matrix were reflected in the main exhibition of the 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts (2009, curated by Božidar Zrinski). The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts (2011, curated by Beti Žerovc) expanded the focus to include the event-based exhibition. The last edition, the 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts in 2013, returned to reconsider the nature of the graphic processes, showcasing the way in which the artists of today respond to contemporary communication tools and processes, and was prepared by American curator Deborah Cullen.