Artist's book triennial

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Where?

• Turiec Gallery in Martin

  • Daxnerova 2; 036 01 Martin

When?

• Opening: 28.11.2024, 17:00

• Duration: till 16.2.2025

• MORE

 

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Exhibiting authors: 

• Monika Aleksandrowicz / Joanna Apanowicz / Balla Dora / Márton Barabás / Kornelia Biały / Bożenna Biskupska / Dorottya Bokor / Šimon Brejcha / Pavel Büchler, Nina Chua / Anett Jakubík-Cifra / Václav Cigler / Jiří Černický / Martin Derner / Han Donau / Barbara Fejes / Szilvia Fekete / Teresa B. Frodyma / Ágnes Haász / Vladimír Havlík / Barbora Hlavicová / Xénia Hoffmeisterová / Pavel Hora / Oto Hudec / Maciej Jablonski / Julie Kačerovská / Botond András Kiss / Ilona Kiss / Tomáš Klepoch, Jan Čumlivski, Juraj Horváth, Palo Čejka / Miloš Kopták / Marta Kosiewicz / Agata Kosmacz / Matej Krén / Leona Labajová / Izabela Łapińska / Otis Laubert / Alena Laufrová / Maciej Linttner / Robert Makar / Tatyana Makletsova,  Svetlana Barankovskaya / Stano Masár / Yuliia Matsveiko / Dóra Matyus / Jan Měřička / Svätopluk Mikyta / Gaba Palicka / Csaba Pál / Andrea Pézman / Miloslav Polcar / Martyna Przegendza / Rafał Pytel / Bogna Kozera-Radomska / Sára Richter / Zbigniew Sałaj / Lajos Sejben / Rudolf Sikora / Ilona Simon / Zofia Siwy / Edyta Stajniak / Dominika Sulírová / István Szirányi / Kamilla Szíj / Zuzana Šebelová / Jana Šindelová / Klára Štefanovičová / Peter Šulavík / Michal Šumichrast / Pavol Truben / Jadwiga Tryzno / Kateřina Makar Václavková / Gabriella Városi / Tomáš Vicen / Lenka Vilhelmová / Kamil Wojucki / Krzysztof Wosik / Kateřina Zemanová

Curators: 

• Jarmila Kováčová
• Gina Renotière

Co-curators:

• Adam Galko
• Robert Makar
• Renata Pacyna
• Andrea Pézman

Exhibition architecture:

• Martin Kubina & Jakub Tóth

Graphic design:

• Marek Kianička

main organiser:

Turčianska galéria v Martine v zriaďovateľskej pôsobnosti Žilinského samosprávneho kraja

co-organisers:

• Olomouc Museum of Art
• The Eugeniust Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw
• Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava
• Hungarian Artist’s Book Association - Budapest

 

 

Annotation:

"The book becomes an exhibition space, replacing the white cubes of galleries. It is a gallery in itself, and the viewer enters it when they are ready."
– Kevin Kemter, co-founder of AKV publishing house in Berlin

The Book Art Triennial provides a unique platform in the Central European cultural space for creators who see the book as a continuous source of artistic inspiration and as a foundation for their individual creative endeavors. At the culmination of these efforts stands a work of art – the artist's book – a unique combination of multiple artistic, craft, and technical disciplines, featuring a personal artistic language and a distinct vision.

The diverse approaches to the artist's book within the context of contemporary visual art offer its creators limitless possibilities. Much like visual art itself, it opens avenues for experimentation, playful exploration of form and content, and meaningful communication with the audience.

Among the numerous traditionally formatted books we recognize, the most notable are artist's books that balance text and image. In these cases, the words and images harmoniously communicate in a language we understand intuitively. There are also cohesive artist's books where both textual and visual components are the creation of a single artist, as well as typographical books or purely visual works, including photographic books. For artist's books without text, the visual information takes center stage, often conveying the book's conceptual message. In such cases, the title of the book or the artwork itself often provides a key to understanding its meaning.

In addition to these, the exhibition showcases a wide range of experimental books, the decoding of which challenges even the possibility of defining this increasingly respected artistic genre universally. These works carry narrative forms that question traditional methods of interpreting stories and their conceptual messages. This category includes book objects, book installations, video books, and books in new media. These works are characterized by both an individual artistic concept, derived from current pluralistic trends in visual art, and the active interaction they invite from the viewer.

Defining the artist's book requires embracing contemporary artistic strategies (such as fragmentation, citation, appropriation, multiplication, and multimedia) while also recognizing the significance and message contained within the endless flow of creative expressions.

The fifth edition of the Book Art Triennial offers an opportunity for an exhibition-focused reflection on the specific intermedial arrangement of the artist's book. It invites artists who experiment with the spatial organization of elements in their works or their integration into installations to enhance the overall visual experience of the artwork.

The formal and visual diversity of the exhibited pieces includes an array of ingeniously designed foldouts, loosely arranged sets of pages, and spatial objects inspired by the book. As in previous editions, it is no surprise that paper remains the primary medium for creating artist's books. However, the exhibition confirms that nothing is immutable. This year's display features books made from wood, textiles, metal, glass, plastic, and other materials.

A significant element of the triennial's concept is an integrated "touch library," where visitors – both viewers and readers – can browse through book artifacts. This segment of the exhibition is aimed especially at children, with the intention of cultivating their literary taste.

This year's international exhibition project on artist's books in Martin continues to explore not only the process of creating artist's books but also their role and relevance in the context of contemporary visual art and book culture, with a particular focus on artists from the Visegrad Four countries.

Jarmila Kováčová and Gina Renotière

 

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Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.