10 Feb 2014

International Conference Password: Printmaking, Ljubljana, 7 March 2014

The conference is a part of the project Password: printmaking, travelling exhibition and art residencies (2012 – 2014) and is executed with the support of the European Commission.
It aims to highlight various theoretical and practical perspectives on some eternally topical issues related to our understanding of printmaking and printed art in the changing environment of contemporary art production.


More about the conference Password: Printmaking
The conference will start with inauguration of Luis Camnitzer, the Uruguayan artist born in Germany.

The first part of the Conference will focus on role of print in contemporary art practice. Professor of Fine Arts at the Univerity of Arts London, Paul Coldwell, will present a wide spectrum of activities of the contemporary graphic arts covering topics from various prints to fine art graphics. He will also expose the importance of the special print curator whose role has been repeatedly overlooked. Javier Martín-Jiménez, curator and president of the association Hablar in Arte, Madrid, has taken Francisco de Goya's famous prints as an example for justifying the power of image within the multiplicative art works and related them to the activities of the Calcografía Nacional, the central Spanish institution for graphic arts. Further on, the word will be given to art critic, theoretician, and curator from Poland Marta Anna Raczek-Karcz. In her speech she will analyze an impact of new media on graphic arts and try to explain what the term »digital graphics« actually stands for.

In the second part of the conference, attention will 'expand' on exploration of borders of graphic arts and the concept of graphic. In this part, the word will be given to the speakers who explore borders of graphics in practice – that is to authors and artists. Opinions and views on the topic will be shared by:
German artist, Thomas Kilpper, who has built up a mobile printing workshop, which enables him to produce large-size prints at almost any location. Most recently he has participated at the 30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, where he created a large-size woodcut – 'floorcut'.
Carlos Bayod Lucini, architect and director of conservation projects at Factum Arte, Madrid will present one of the most contemporary views on graphic arts – namely, the print as an object. The workshop Factum Arte focuses on mediation and production of 2D and 3D art works and has a reputation for dissolving borders between technology and crafts.
The last speaker of the second part of the Conference will be Michael Schneider, Austrian artist, who has worked intensively in the medium of woodblock printing and has also been involved in non-traditional approaches to printmaking including installation, performance, and sound as an extension of his printmaking practice. In his point of view, printmaking has become a media of choice for all kinds of artists.

The third and the last part of the Conference will cover the topic of the international exhibitions of graphic arts – biennials, triennials and festivals – and the active role they play for graphic arts. The topic will be covered by following speakers: Anthony Gardner, Lecturer of the Contemporary Art History at the Oxford University; Deborah Cullen, Director & Chief Curator of The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University and also a curator of the 30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts; Eha Komissarov, curator at the Kumu Art Museum, Estonia; and Nevenka Šivavec, director of the International Centre of Graphic Arts.
Anthony Gardner will address topics, such as international exhibitions in the age of three worlds, internationalism, globalization, and the influence of politics. These topics are crucial for understanding the importance of biennials.
Deborah Cullen will speak about graphics as if it was a way of communication and about printmaking workshops as 'contact zones' that have always existed and are still necessary for artists to come together and conduct printmaking practices.
Eha Komissarov will base her speech on the topic of the 16th Tallinn Print Triennial. The Triennial offeres new approach towards the traditional technique by addressing the relationship between visual art and literacy. Her topic, Illiteracy after Literacy, is tensioned by dissagrements and intrigues as artists have different positions and understandings.
Nevenka Šivavec will look upon the local manifiestation trough the hegemony of the graphic medium nad expose the urge for the thorough critical analysis of the Biennial's complex history and the contextualization of its archives and collections.

Conference schedule on www.password-printmaking.eu/ ; www.mglc-lj.si

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The European project Password: Printmaking, Travelling Exhibition and Art residencies (2012 – 2014) is coordinated by the MGLC. Partners in project: MGLC – International Centre of Graphic Arts (Ljubljana, Slovenia); HAE – Hablar en Arte (Madrid, Spain); FMC – Frans Masereel Centrum (Kasterlee, Belgium); MMSU – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Rijeka, Croatia); Foundation Tallinn Print Triennial (Tallinn, Estonia); SMTG – International Print Triennial Society (Krakow, Poland).

With the support of: European Commission, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, The City of Ljubljana