The Exhibition Was Opened, the Prizes Were Awarded
The exhibition of the Graphics Review, 3rd Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland was opened at the Transylvanian Art Center in Sfântu Gheorghe, on the Day of Hungarian Culture, 22 January, 2015. On this occasion the ceremony of awarding the best artworks was held.
The opening ceremony of the biennial started at the Transylvanian Art Center, where Zoltán Vécsi Nagy, director of the institute, and Zsolt Siklodi, curator of the biennial, greeted those present and spoke highly of the exhibition.
Zsolt Siklodi presented the history of the Graphics Review, mentioning that it is an international fine arts event supported by the councils of the counties of Szeklerland, namely Harghita, Covasna and Mureș, and it was first organized in 2010, then in 2012. The aim of the organizers was to define the place of graphic endeavors of our narrower and wider region, Szeklerland and the Carpathian Basin, within global trends, besides, to bring and make known, through the event, fine arts views born in other parts of the world. According to Zsolt Siklodi, the fact that the biennial has indeed become an international event, is also confirmed by the fact that 336 artists submitted their applications with 783 artworks, from 32 countries. He added that the international jury consisting of graphic artists and professors of universities of art selected 228 artworks for the review, which are exhibited for the first time at the Transylvanian Art Center and at the Szekler National Museum. The former hosts the artworks belonging to the category of experimental graphics as well as the awarded works of this year’s biennial and the latter offers space for the artworks created with the technique of traditional graphics.
The curator evaluated the event with the following words: “Based on these data we can rightly say that the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland has become the greatest fine arts competition and event of this kind in the country. Thus the graphics review moves in the right direction, having earned itself the rank of obliging the applying artist to high quality.”
In his opening speech Zoltán Vécsi Nagy expressed his conviction that the 3rd Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland, by now growing into its maturity, has a beneficial effect upon the fine arts of our region, Szeklerland, but in a wider context also of the whole nation and country, of the entire region of the Carpathian Basin. He considered it especially fortunate that owing to the social capital arising from the openness of organization characterizing the biennial, the event has acquired an international character, as a consequence of which artworks of excellent graphic artists have entered the review. He also added: “I consider it a great thing that not only graphic artists of the wider region, but also the local ones, from Transylvania, from Szeklerland, hold their ground worthily in this high standard international field.”
The opening of the exhibition was followed by the awarding ceremony, on which the Háromszék Prize for Culture and the prizes for the best artworks of the biennial were awarded. Two special prizes, three prizes of 1,000 euro offered by the organizing counties from Szeklerland and a main prize of 2,000 euro provided by the Ministry of Culture were awarded. The Zereda Art Camp Prize was awarded to Gabriella Lakatos, artist from Odorhei, Romania; the Pulzus Art Camp Prize was awarded to Norbert Filep graphic artist, Romania; the Nagy Imre Prize offered by the Harghita County Council was awarded to Magda Szplit, graphic artist from Poland as well as to Teodor Asenov, graphic artist from Bulgaria; the Nagy Pál Prize offered by the Sóvidék Microregional Association was taken over by Diar Nurbintoro, ambassador of Indonesia on behalf of Reno Megy Setiawan, Indonesian artist; the Plugor Sándor Prize offered by the Covasna County Council was awarded by Sándor Tamás, president of Covasna County Council, to Gergely Kárpáti, artist from Hungary; and finally, the Main Prize of the Biennial was awarded by Csilla Hegedűs, the Deputy Secretary General for Culture of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, to Erika Szőke, graphic artist from Slovakia. The awarding ceremony was made more colorful by the contribution of the jazz band Impro-Víziók 2.2.
The organizers would like to thank all participating artists for their contribution to the standard and success of the event.
The Graphics Review, with already three editions so far, was organized by the Covasna County Council and the Cultural Center of Covasna County, in close collaboration with the Harghita County Council, the Transylvanian Art Center and the Lăzarea Cultural and Creation Center.
The event was supported by the Ministry of Culture of Romania, the Mureș County Organization of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, the Sóvidék Microregional Association, Sfântu Gheorghe Town Hall, the Pulzus Art Camp, the MUKK Culture and Youth Association, the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch of the Romanian Fine Artists Union, the Szekler National Museum as well as the MAGMA Contemporary Exhibition Space.
Special media partner of the biennial was the Association of Hungarian Journalists of Romania; media partners were the Háromszék, the Hargita Népe, the Transindex, the Erdély.ma, the Székely Hírmondó, the Népújság, the KorkéP, the Hungarian Television of Transylvania, the Harghita Studio, the Hungarian Program of the Romanian Television, the Radio Târgu Mureș, Radio Cluj-Napoca and the Sláger Radio.
The main patron of the 3rd Graphic Art Biennial is Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, former Minister of Culture, Romania.
We thank them all for their support!
We would like to inform the artists whoose works were selected by the jury that we have modified the deadline for sending the original artworks.