The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts took the turning point in the history of art when the ease of technical reproduction made reproducibility a new quality in the artwork and transformed the very concept of art in essential ways, as its point of departure and theme for reflection. In doing so, it made reference to the theses of the renowned philosopher Walter Benjamin and his theoretical implications. The reproducibility of art changed the ways in which the notions of the copy and the original are understood. It influenced new meanings of authorship, the roles of the artist and the technician, the link between technology and art, and so on. Reproducibility led to multiple production, wider accessibility and the artwork’s ability to be simultaneously present in different situations and socio-political environments. Artists welcomed reproducibility as something that gives them new and diverse possibilities for expression and content. The exhibitions of reproducible art as part of the 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts presented a variety of art forms, from traditional printmaking to printed art, video, photography as well as computer and net art.
The main exhibition The Unbound Eyes of Anxiousness presented artists of different generations and stylistic definitions, whose work had marked art and society in the preceding years and decades (both in Slovenia and internationally). The title of the exhibition speaks of the pivotal moment in the creative process when the idea takes on a visible form; the creative restlessness in the artist’s head is unleashed, is torn from “chaos”, and becomes a visible piece of art.
