Taking into account the globally spread coronavirus disease, the organizers had to modify the program of the biennial of the year 2020. Unfortunately the epidemic situation had a negative impact on the organisation of the G6 events. As a result the usual exhibition openings, accompanying events and awards gala were cancelled this year.
This year the exhibition opening of the 6th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland moved into the virtual space, thus those who are interested can view the short film made for the opening on the Facebook page of the G6 (https://www.facebook.com/grafikaiszemle). Yet the exhibition of G6 can be visited live in the Transylvanian Art Centre in Sepsiszentgyörgy.
During the past ten years the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerand offered vast possibilities for the presentation of traditional and experimental graphic works. Becoming an important factor from a professional point of view and gaining international publicity, today this event got on the map of international graphics.
The 6th edition of the biennial waited for responses of the participant artists, coming from different countries and cultures, concerning global issues, political, economical and other social problems. The main question was, how do they represent the problems of their personal existence or the problems of their environment in their art? How can tradition and total renewal be expressed through the language of contemporary graphic art.
We were also interested in works the primary aspect of which is not the definition of the ideal of beauty, but its problematization. Thus, we proposed the title “Structure of Chaos” as the buzzword of the 6th Graphic Art Biennale of Szeklerland. Chaos as the uncertainty of predictability, order as the exact geometric structure or predictability, and their possible sociological, political, cultural, ecological and economic implications. Globally, the vulnerability of all of these was confirmed by the outbreak of Covid-19 at the beginning of the year, which paralyzed all areas of life and unfortunately had a negative impact on the G6 2020 events and the organization of accompanying exhibitions. – considers Apor Ferencz S., the curator of the bienalei.
„In course of the examination of the works sent in to the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland in the year 2020 we can get a situation report about the international state of contemporary graphics. From the submitted works it becomes clear, that the artists coming from very different geographical and cultural backgrounds are mainly bothered by the insecurity and the existential fears provoked by our globalizing and uniformizing world. Near the representatives of the graphic „world powers” Poland and China, which traditionally participate in force at the Biennial, this year also countries like India or Thailand were present more pronouncedly,these being countries, where contemporary graphics has not had particular weight within fine arts and could hardly be measured by international standards until now. This trend also shows, that image graphics is again a virulent genre of visual arts on global scale, which allows us to be optimistic.” – says dr. István Erőss member of the professional staff and jury member of the biennial.
In her laudation art historian Kányádi Iréne, assistent professor at Partium Christian University Partium says:
And yes, the call, in addition to being prophetic, captured the essence of the human of the present age, since the postmodern human is primarily characterized by the crossing of any kind of boundaries: the physical, the geographical, the biological, and the list goes on. The human of the present age belongs to the global world, the world of networks, the age of electronic information; a constantly moving individual who can be reached by technology at any time. The experimental spirit of the postmodern age is tangible in the works received, both in terms of the choice of subject and the technical execution, and the fact that no matter what times we live in, art can actively react to it. The artists experienced both the announcement of the Graphic Art Biennial and the chaos of the year 2020 as a challenge, meaning that we can talk about authentic, believable and high-quality works.
The exhibition can be visited at the Transylvanian Art Centre until the 6th of November, from Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibition can also be viewed online on the Biennale website by clicking on the following link: https://gbiennial.ro/online-expo-g6/
Winners
With the artworks entitled Our order 3. and 5., respectively We are different 2. Mettrai Pongchomporn (TH) won the Main Prize of the biennial valuing 2000 euro offered by Perla Harghitei, The prize named after Pál Nagy provided by Maros county went to Liu FU (CN) for his series Lost paradise. The prize named after Imre Nagy offered by Hargita county went to Supicha Sutanthavibul (TH) for the work entitled Insane instinct and the prize provided by Covasna county named after Plugor Sándor was won by Tomasz Winiarski (PL) with the works Perpetuum mobile: CII and CIV. The prizes offered by the three counties of Szeklerland are 1000 euro each of them. The Imre Baász prize is 500 euro worth, this prize was awarded by the jury to Rattana Sudjarit(TH) for the works entitled The way of harvesters 2 and 3. Roxana Bloju (RO) received the prize of the Consulate General of Hungary for her series 6_20_8_11_19_24. The prize of the Institute of Visual Arts of the Eszterházy Károly University of Eger was awarded to Róbert Roland Ritli (RO) with his work entitled War 3. The Partium prize offered by the Partium Christian University went to Szén András (RO) for the work Fight, whereas the prize provided by the Cultural and Art Centre of Gyergyószárhegy went to Zsófia Orbán (HU) for her work entitled One week later.
The prize of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts was awarded to Olesya Dzhurayeva (UA) for the works Spring day in Berlin and Nordic light. Stockholm. The prize provided by Zereda Art Camp won Rudolf Szilágyi (HU) with his series Classical rehabilitation, the prize of Pulzus Art Camp went to Pop Adriana Mihaela (RO) for her work Vertical.
The 6th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland was sponsored by the Perla Harghitei and the Bethlen Gábor Funds.
The publication of the catalogue of the biennial was sponsored by the National Cultural Fund.
The event is organized with the collaboration of the Cultural Centre of Covasna County, the Councils of Hargita, Kovászna and Maros Counties, the Cultural and Art Centre of Gyergyószárhegy and the Museum of Maros County.