26th International Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana

With its 26th installment, the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts celebrates its 50th anniversary!

The Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts is the oldest graphic arts biennial in the world, as well as being one of the largest and most important contemporary art events in Slovenia. Artistic director for the 26th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts is the respected Slovene art historian Jure Mikuz. He has invited eighteen prestigious institutions from all over the world to each present an exhibition that attempts to answer the question: What are the graphic arts today? Their answers give form to the artistic criteria of the cultural and geographic settings in which these institutions operate and in this way help to constitute a postcolonial perspective on art. This approach underscores the great variety of art today as it exists in our globalising world.

The title of this year’s Biennial, Thrust, speaks to the power of the Biennial, which for fifty years has been one of the engines of both Slovene culture and international graphic arts. The title also alludes to the power of art to trigger an array of responses, thoughts, and emotions, as well as to the meaning of the local as opposed to the global.

Grand Prix of the Biennial The recipient of Grand Prix of the 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts is San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Carribean, Puerto Rico.

The jury of the 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana consisting of Hedwig Fijen, Katalin Néray, Vasif Kortún and Yongwoo Lee unanimously nominated the group project of the San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial in Puerto Rico as this year’s prizewinner.

The curator Elvis Fuentes Rodriguez composed the presentation of San Juan Triennial for Ljubljana. It consists of works by Jennifer Allora, Guillermo Calzadilla, Miguel Luciano, Adál Maldonado, Antonio Martorell, Garvin J. Sierra, Mary Patierno and Natalia Muñoz.

The jury decided in favour of this project because of its innovative use of the notion of printing in public participatory spaces and because of the coherence and cohesion of the project as such. At the same time, the different dialogues and narratives that went into the works, and that appear in these times of various forms of violence of images, also impressed the jury. Equally impressive is the economy of means for setting up the San Juan Triennial. Last but not least, the collective spirit shown in the presentation here in Ljubljana, and in which individual works are harmoniously put together into a single issue, convinced the jury of the high quality of collaboration existing between the prize winning participants.

Participating institutions and artists at the 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana are:

Bharat Bhavan International Print Biennial, Bhopal, India: Raj Mohammad Pathan Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France: François Morellet, Paul-Armand Gette, Jean Le Gac, François Bouillon, Gérard Collin-Thiebaut, Jean-Michel Alberola, Yves Chaudouët, Françoise Petrovitch Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, Great Britain: Paul Coldwell, Jane Dixon, Lucian Freud, Jane Joseph, Peter Kennard & Cat Picton Phillipps, Hughie O'Donoghue, Anne Rook, Colin Self, Ian Tyson, Catherine Yass, Webproductions (Telfer Stokes, Helen Douglas) Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA: Devorah Sperber Calcografía Nacional, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain: Juan Alberto García de Cubas, Mónica Gener, Centro I+D de la Estampa Digital, Calcografía Nacional, Anish Kapoor, Jesús Pastor, Elena Jiménez Egyptian International Print Triennial, Giza, Egypt: Amira Ehsan Abdel Malek, Eman Ezzat Elshazli, Moataz Mohamed Abdallah, Mohamed Nabil Abdel Salam, Rania wagdy AbdAlla Mahmoud, Wael A.Sabour A.Kader Graphica Creativa International Print Triennial, Jyväskylä, Finland: Tuija Arminen, Hanna Oinonen International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia: Son:Da, Marija Staric Jenko & Almira Sadar, Annu Vertanen, Federico Pietrella, Ingrid Ledent International Print Triennial, Krakow, Poland: Andrzej Bednarczyk, Ksawery Kaliski Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome, Italy: Massimo Bartolini National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan: Shiou-ping Liao, Hsi-chi Li, Yang-che Liu, Yu-hui Chung, Chen-ping Tung, Shyh-twan Hwang, Hsueh-chin Lin, Chin-cheng Chu, Dean-e Mei, Ming-die Yang, Sheng-min Hsieh, Hung-yu Chang, Hsin-chen Chang, Ping-ho Lo, Juo-lan Kao, Ming-feng Hsu, Chao-an Lin, Yung-chin Chen, Yu-tzu Wu, Hsing-hsuen Wu, Hsiang Cheng, Chin-jui Pan, Yu-chi Wang, Hui-Lan Chang Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria: Jörg Schlick Novosibirsk Biennial of Contemporary Graphics, Novosibirsk, Russia: Rinat Minnebajev, Svjatoslav Ponomarjov, Jelena Bertollo, Vladimir Martinov, Jekaterina Rozkova, Vladimir Nasedkin, Sergej Brujhanov, Muratbek Dzumalijev, Guljnara Kasmalijeva, Almagulj Menlibajeva, Ajrat Teregulov Proyecto'ace, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Rimer Cardillo San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Caribbean, Puerto Rico: Allora & Calzadilla (Jennifer Allora, Guillerno Calzadilla), Miguel Luciano, Adál Maldonado, Antonio Martorell, Garvin J. Sierra, Mary Patierno and Natalia Muñoz Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Karuizawa, Japan: Mitsuo Kano, Naoyoshi Hikosaka, Fumihiko Nishioka, Nana Shiomi, Keisuke Yamaguchi Sofia Graphic Art International Triennial, Bulgaria: Bujan Filcev, Emil Mirazciev, Mobile Graphic Art Room (Anastasija Panajotova, Aleksander Aleksov, Atanas Vasilev, Borislav Stoev, Valeri Vasilev, Valeri Cakalov, Vanko Urumov, Veselin Damjanov, Galina Pavlova, Georgi Lecev, Gredi Assa, Darina Peeva, Dimo Kolibarov, Elena Panajotova, Zafir Joncev, Ivan Dimov, Ivan Ninov, Koljo Karamfilov, Kostadinka Miladinova, Marija Duhteva, Milko Pavlov, Mihail Petkov, Plamen Monev, Plamen Penov, Plamen Solomonski, Ralica Nikolova, Roberto Andreev, Rumen Necev, Rumen Racev, Rumen Skorcev, Saso Anastasov, Stefan Bojkov, Tedi Liho, Tihomir Manolov, Cvetan Kazandziev, Juli Mincev, Javora Petrova, Hristo Kardzilov) Tallinn Print Triennial, Tallinn, Estonia: John Smith (Marko Mäetamm and Kaido Ole) and Margareete Fuks; Andres Tali and Anu Kalm, Leonhard Lapin, Silvi Liiva, Enno Ootsing, Vive Tolli, Urmas Viik; Marko Laimre and Theodor Kuul; KIWA (Jaanus Kivaste) and Kaarel Kurismaa; Kai Kaljo and Richard Kaljo; Avangard (Sandra Jõgeva, Margus Tamm) and Peeter Allik

The 26th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphics Arts is installed in the former warehouse facilities of the Ljubljana Tobacco Factory. It is on view every day from June 23 until October 2, 2005, with the exception of Mondays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Auxiliary Exhibitions: The 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts is accompanied by three exhibitions installed in the galleries of the International Graphic Arts Center: • Raymond Pettibon, American contemporary artist, recipient of the Grand Prize of Honor of the 25th Ljubljana International Biennial of Graphic Arts; • The Most Beautiful Prints: Slovene Graphic Arts over the Past 50 Years; and • The First Line: Avant-Garde and Alternative Printers and Presses in Slovenia from Conceptualism to the Present.

THRUST - The 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana 2005
Kurator: Elvis Fuentes Rodriguez
Ort: Ljubljana Tobacco Factory

Grand Prix of the Biennial
Preisträger: San Juan Poly / Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Carribean, Puerto Rico

Künstler: Raj Mohammad Pathan, François Morellet, Paul-Armand Gette, Jean Le Gac, Francois Bouillon, Gerard Collin-Thiebaut, Jean-Michel Alberola, Yves Chaudouet, Francoise Petrovitch, Paul Coldwell, Jane Dixon, Lucian Freud, Jane Joseph, Peter Kennard & Cat Picton Phillipps, Hughie O´Donoghue, Anne Rook, Colin Self, Ian Tyson, Catherine Yass, Webproductions (Telfer Stokes, Helen Douglas), Devorah Sperber, Juan Alberto Garcia de Cubas, Monica Gener, Anish Kapoor, Jesús Pastor, Elena Jimenez, Amira Ehsan Abdel Malek, Eman Ezzat Elshazli, Moataz Mohamed Abdallah, Mohamed Nabil Abdel Salam, Rania Wagdy Abd Alla Mahmoud, Wael A. Sabour A. Kader, Tuija Arminen, Hanna Oinonen, Son Da, Marija Staric Jenko & Almira Sadar, Annu Vertanen, Federico Pietrella, Ingrid Ledent, Andrzej Bednarczyk, Ksawery Kaliski, Massimo Bartolini, Shiou-ping Liao, Hsi-chi Li, Yang-che Liu, Yu-hui Chung, Chen-ping Tung, Shyh-twan Hwang, Hsueh-chin Lin, Chin-cheng Chu, Dean-e Mei, Ming-die Yang, Sheng-min Hsieh, Hung-yu Chang, Hsin-chen Chang, Ping-ho Lo, Juo-lan Kao, Ming-feng Hsu, Chao-an Lin, Yung-chin Chen, Yu-tzu Wu, Hsing-hsuen Wu, Hsiang Cheng, Chin-jui Pan, Yu-chi Wang, Hui-Lan Chang, Jörg Schlick, Rinat Minnebajev, Svjatoslav Ponomarjov, Jelena Bertollo, Vladimir Martinov, Jekaterina Rozkova, Vladimir Nasedkin, Sergej Brujhanov, Muratbek Dzumalijev, Guljnara Kasmalijeva, Almagulj Menlibajeva, Ajrat Teregulov, Rimer Cardillo, Allora & Calzadilla, Miguel Luciano, Adal Maldonado, Antonio Martorell, Garvin J. Sierra, Mary Patierno & Natalia Munoz, Mitsuo Kano, Naoyoshi Hikosaka, Fumihiko Nishioka, Nana Shiomi, Keisuke Yamaguchi, Bujan Filcev, Emil Mirazciev, Mobile Graphic Art Room (Anastasija Panajotova, Aleksander Aleksov, Atanas Vasilev, Borislav Stoev, Valeri Vasilev, Valeri Cakalov, Vanko Urumov, Veselin Damjanov, Galina Pavlova, Georgi Lecev, Gredi Assa, Darina Peeva, Dimo Kolibarov, Elena Panajotova, Zafir Joncev, Ivan Dimov, Ivan Ninov, Koljo Karamfilov, Kostadinka Miladinova, Marija Duhteva, Milko Pavlov, Mihail Petkov, Plamen Monev, Plamen Penov, Plamen Solomonski, Ralica Nikolova, Roberto Andreev, Rumen Necev, Rumen Racev, Rumen Skorcev, Saso Anastasov, Stefan Bojkov, Tedi Liho, Tihomir Manolov, Cvetan Kazandziev, Juli Mincev, Javora Petrova, Hristo Kardzilov), John Smith (Marko Mäetamm & Kaido Ole) Margareete Fuks; Andres Tali and Anu Kalm, Leonhard Lapin, Silvi Liiva, Enno Ootsing, Vive Tolli, Urmas Viik; Marko Laimre & Theodor Kuul; Kiwa (Jaanus Kivaste) Kaarel Kurismaa; Kai Kaljo & Richard Kaljo; Avangard  (Sandra Jogeva, Margus Tamm, Peeter Allik)