The Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts Through the Poster, 31st Biennal of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, 2015, installation view of the parallel exhibition at NLB Avla Gallery.
Photo: Urška Boljkovac. MGLC Archive.
Twenty-two posters were included in the exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts. The final selection included those that were visually interesting and especially those that were created before 2001. The review of posters, which along with the catalogue covers had always formed an important part of the overall graphic image of each Biennial, was at the same time a review of the historical development of the Biennial, the tastes of the time and the development of graphic design in Slovenia.
The Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts is an event that has chosen not to abandon the poster, even though the organiser is fully aware of its value, which is now somewhat cultural and historical rather than communicational. The NLB Gallery Avla presented a selection of posters that artists had conceived as part of a call for submissions for a draft for a poster from the 1st to the 8th International Exhibition of Graphic Arts.
Ivan Picelj’s poster for the 5th international exhibition most likely broke with tradition because it was so different from previous posters. It was no longer a reproduction of an artwork laced with typography of letters, but a contemporary graphic design transmitting visual communication about this particular art event. Next year the Committee invited Jože Brumen to participate and the way he saw the visual image of the entire exhibition was so elemental, that he created both the poster and the catalogue cover (by reproducing a Riko Debenjak), and he also made a logotype by building upon the design of the previous Picelj’s posters.
Since 1969 the poster and the cover of the catalogue represented a part of the Biennial design, which was practically always based on a concrete graphic arts collection, and after 1975 on a graphic of one of the award-winning artists from the previous Biennial. After 1971 the Biennial posters were therefore based on graphics by Janez Bernik, Adriana Maraž, Tetsuya Noda, Andrej Jemec, Lojze Logar, Dan Allison, Günther Uecker and other.
This convention was interrupted by the 24th International Biennial of Graphic Arts in the new millennium, which revived the exhibition by challenging its structure, internal organisation, relations with the local and international public and the performance of the curator, and also by bringing a new promotional approach with new designs and tools unifying the visual identity of this event. Same as the difference in the concept of future Biennials, a constantly changing design by a different designers or a group of designers who were allowed to use visuals as they saw fit has also become its regular feature. Art graphics as the basis for visual communication has disappeared from the poster, replaced by graphic elements composing the visual identity of each upcoming event.
Author of the exhibition: MGLC.
Coordinator: Petra Klučar.