On Thursday, 6 October, the official opening and award ceremony of the 7th Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland took place at the Transylvanian Art Centre. Sándor Tamás, president of the Covasna County Council, Dr. Beáta Bordás, head of the Transylvanian Art Centre, Béla Kolcsár, head of the Cultural and Art Centre of Lăzarea, Bulcsú Ötvös Koppány, director of the Mureș County Museum, Hajnal Both, consul of the Consulate of Hungary in Miercurea-Ciuc, and Apor S. Ferencz, curator of the Biennial, attended the exhibition and gave welcoming speeches. The exhibition was praised by art historian Iréne Kányádi.
Dr. Bordás Beáta, head of the Transylvanian Art Centre, welcomed the participants, expressed her appreciation and gratitude for the fact that the Transylvanian Art Centre could once again host the Biennial and that the best of the works will remain in the Centre’s collection.
In his speech, Sándor Tamás, president of the Covasna County Council, emphasized that the almost 15 years of cooperation between Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties is fruitful, as a result of which the cultural forcefield of Szeklerland has been strengthened: “we make room for both tradition and innovation, and this duality is exciting. A well-planned strategy provides stability, and innovation provides rapid adaptation. This duality is found not only in us, but also in the arts.”
Béla Kolcsár, the head of the Cultural and Art Centre of Lăzarea, thanked the organisers and emphasised that significant moments in history can be linked to artistic events, so today’s event is also a good opportunity to show the participants how much new things can be presented by the artists besides the traditional techniques of graphic art.
Bulcsú Koppány Ötvös, director of the Mureş County Museum, on behalf of Ferenc Péter, president of the Mureş County Council, and consul Hajnal Both, welcomed the guests.
Apor S. Ferencz, the curator of this year’s edition of the Biennial presented the motto for this year’s edition: “Changing circumstances and the constraints we experienced force us all to reassess our vision of the future. We are looking for solutions to the unanswered questions of uncertain times with different strategies. Accordingly, in 2022, we have proposed the title Strategies as the motto of the Graphic Art Biennial of Szeklerland.”
The exhibition was praised by art historian Iréne Kányádi: “Looking at the material of the Biennial, the question arises again and again: can art, and if so, how can it bring changes to the reality outside of it? Even if this year’s core material cannot bring about concrete changes, the quality of the works and the choice of themes certainly invite the viewer to reflect. We can say that it puts us in a critical mirror of our near and distant surroundings, which, wittingly or unwittingly, encourages us to change and move on.”
The event was attended by the award-winning artists, as well as by Árpád Kurko, the provider of the Biennial’s main prize, who presented this year’s main award to the winning artist.
- The Biennial’s main award: Nastazja Ciupa (PL)
- Imre Nagy award: Anna Trojanowska (PL)
- Sándor Plugor award: Janne Laine (FI)
- Pál Nagy award: Vimonmarn Khanthachavana (TH)
- Imre Baász award: Shanatya Tahpor (TH)
- The award of the Consulate of Hungary in Miercurea-Ciuc: Agnieszka Cieślińska (PL)
- Partium Award from the Partium Christian University: Fruzsina Siklódy (RO)
- The award of Eszterházy Károly University: Kelemen Miklós (HU)
- The award of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts: Goran Trickovski (BG)
- The award of the Pulzus Artists’ Colony: Cătălina Nistor (RO)
- MAMŰ award: Anikó Csonga Kovács (SK)
- The award of the Lăzarea Artists’ Colony: Bianka Dobó (HU)
The exhibition is open until 26 November at the Transylvanian Art Centre. Photos of the event can be viewed HERE.
The Biennial is supported by the Bethlen Gábor Fund (BGA) and the National Cultural Fund of Hungary (NKA).