The Covasna, Harghita and Mureş County Councils, together with the Cultural Center of Covasna County, the Lăzarea Cultural and Creation Center and the Mureș County Museum, announce the application for the 7th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland.

The organization of the 6th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland was hugely influenced by the pandemic situation, as a consequence of which we were compelled to transfer our events into the online space. But in spite of the challenges generated by the pandemic, this year we will do everything to create the conditions, which offer a suitable space for a professional contest. We seek to maintain this event as an important international platform of contemporary graphics.

The main goal of the G7 remains in the future, too, to bring into focus the tendencies of contemporary graphic art and to provide an overall picture of the current trends and development of printmaking techniques. It should trace and identify, respectively it should point out those interactions, which could bring about the different fusions of traditional and experimental graphic procedures.

The changed circumstances, the experience of being constrained make us all reevaluate our vision of the future. Following different strategies, we are seeking for solutions to the  unanswered questions of these uncertain times. Accordingly, the organizers of the biennial propose as a catchphrase of the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland of the year 2022 the title Strategies.

In the hope that the products of the creative sensitivity of the applying artists will constitute an excellent imprint of the events of the recent times, we look forward to receiving your application, being confident that the events planned for October 2022 will take place to their full extent.

On the occasion of the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland organized for the 7th time this year, we are waiting for the application of all those graphic artists and art students who are devoted to work with different traditional, digital and printmaking techniques.

In the spirit of the ideas above, the organizers of the biennial expect the submission of printed graphics created with the following procedures:
– graphic artworks created with traditional procedures of graphic art;
– graphic artworks created with digital methods of image creation and printed with digital devices;
– graphic artworks prepared with digital methods of image creation but printed with traditional methods.

Terms and Conditions of Participation in the 7th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland 

The terms and conditions of the biennial have partly changed! Please read the terms and conditions of participation attentively!

1. PARTICIPANTS
Professional artists and art university students may participate in the biennial if their application is in conformity with the Terms and Conditions included in the Call for Application.
Associations, professional organizations and other groups cannot apply. The artists can apply to the biennial only personally.

2. CRITERIA OF ARTWORKS TO BE SUBMITTED
– The topic of the artworks can be freely chosen.
– The paper size of the artworks must be minimum 30×30 cm, and maximum 100×100 cm.
– The submitted graphic artwork has been created in the past two years.
– All artworks created with printed graphics procedures are accepted, included in the definition of graphics in terms of high, low and plain print methods (woodcut and linocut, aquaforte, aquatint, mezzotint, lithography, screen printing, individual print, C-print, offset, electrographics, etc.).

– Every artist may participate with maximum 3 artworks. Every submitted artwork counts as 1 artwork. The elements of a series count as separate artworks; thus, a three-element series counts as three artworks.
– Artworks created in pencil, pastel, coal, ink and other individual, that are not multiplication procedures as well as photos printed without any image manipulation or reproductions of artworks (paintings, sculptures, installations, performances, etc.) are not accepted.

3. SUBMISSION
Submission is only possible on the following website, via the online entry form: www.gbiennial.ro

The digital reproductions of the artworks can be uploaded online, via the entry form, together with the required data.
Parameters of digital reproductions:
– the file size of the digital image may not exceed 15 MB;
– the digital images can be uploaded in uncompressed jpg, jpge or png format, 300 dpi resolution;
– the longer size must be minimum 2500 pixels.

If the uploading was successful, the system will send a confirmation message to the e-mail address specified in the filled-in entry form. If you might have problems with online registration, please contact the organizers on the following e-mail: grafikaibiennale@gmail.com

The deadline of submitting the digital reproductions is 20th of March 2022, midnight, 12:00 (UTC+2). 

Important! With submission the applicants assume that, if their submitted works are selected by the jury, they will send the original artworks by post or will submit them to the biennial in person.  The organizers do not assume the printing of the artworks or the refunding of printing costs!

Important! For the phase of preselection please don’t send the original artworks by post! If this is the case, we are unable to send back the original artworks.

4. ENTRY FEE
There is noentry fee for the 6th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland.

5. SELECTION OF THE ARTWORKS, EVALUATION BY THE JURY
The members of the jury are internationally acknowledged art historians and artists.
The evaluation will take place in two phases: preselection and the selection of the awarded artworks.
The decisions of the jury cannot be overridden.

5/a Preselection
The preselection will take place based on the digital reproductions of the artworks to be submitted.
The jury will select the artworks that qualify for the second phase; these artworks will be included in the catalogue of the biennial.
All participants will be informed on the results of preselection via email.

5/b Sending the artworks qualifying for the second phase by post
The original artworks must be sent by post or submitted to the biennial in person.
Please attach to the submitted artworks the printed entry form received via e-mail during online registration in the first phase. The artworks must be numbered and signed in accordance with the international graphics standards.
Original graphic artworks must be submitted without their frames or mat boards, in portfolios or carton reels.

Postal / shipping address:
Centrul de Cultură al Judeţului Covasna
RO-520008 Sfântu Gheorghe, Str. Libertății nr. 2
Jud. Covasna
România

Please indicate on the postal package:
The 7th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland
For cultural purpose only, no commercial value!

The deadline for sending the original artworks by post (postmark date) or submitting them in person is May 31, 2022.
Artworks sent after the deadline will be automatically excluded.
We do not assume any responsibility and cannot compensate for possible damages that might occur during transport.

5/c Prizes
1. Main Prize of the Biennial: 2000 Euro
2. Nagy Imre Prize: 1000 Euro
3. Plugor Sándor Prize: 1000 Euro
4. Nagy Pál Prize: 1000 Euro

6.EXHIBITION AND AWARDING
The artworks selected for the second phase will be exhibited in the course of the biennial depending on the exhibition surface and the ranking of the jury.
Venue: Transylvanian Art Center, Sfântu Gheorghe.
Official opening of the biennial: October 7, 2022, 5 PM

The authors of the artworks will be informed on the decision of the jury and the details of the opening ceremony by post, phone or via email.

7. FURTHER INFORMATION
– The awarded artworks will remain in the property of the Transylvanian Art Center.
–Each artist may donate his work, extending in this way the graphic collection of the Transylvanian Art Center. You can express this intention by the completion of the application form.
– After the exhibitions of the Biennial the exhibited artworks will be sent back to their authors by post within one year. The donated works constitute an exception here.
– The selected artworks will be included in the biennial’s catalogue.
– The organizers of the biennial reserve the right to organize the exhibitions.

Submission implies the acceptance of the terms and conditions of participation in the biennial!

Download the call for application: .pdf