SPLITGRAPHIC INTERNATIONAL GRAPHIC ART BIENNIAL
The fifth jubilee Splitgraphic International Graphic Art Biennial took place from October to December 2011. Splitgraphic biennial exhibited contemporary international and national graphic artists.
Since 2003, when the first Splitgraphic biennial was organized, we have been continually working on presenting international, Croatian and local printmakers; supporting new and classical tendencies in graphic art and above all aiming to exhibit good quality prints.
And we have succeeded in doing so in the last ten years: in addition to group exhibitions Splitgraphic organized over ten solo-exhibitions of graphic artists such as Mirko Ilić (2003), Masahiro Fukuda (2005), Vasko Lipovac (2007), Dušan Džamonja (2009), Nevenka Arbanas and Maja Franković (2009), Miroslav Šutej (2007), Kristina Restović and Ivan Kožarić (2005), Brita Weglin (2009), Nikola Skokandić and Janice Wong (2005).
The Spligraphic awards were received by the renowned names in graphic art: Vasko Lipovac, Masahiro Fukuda, Hugo Besard, Yoshio Imamura, Davida Kidd, Basil C. Frank, Nevenka Arbanas and Maja Franković, Mirjana Vodopija, Janice Wong, Brita Weglin, Hishasi Kurachi.
Idea or concept of the exhibitions during Splitgraphic biennial has changed over the years. The concept of the first Splitgraphic in 2003 was the Diocletian’s palace that was chosen as a continuation of Split’s graphic tradition. We wanted to link Splitgraphic biennial with city’s printmaking history and with the famous and influential book by British architect Robert Adam. He dedicated this book to the architecture of Diocletian’s palace in the eighteenth century, and published it with the engravings made by Charles L. Clérisseau.
The second Splitgraphic introduced the theme of dialogue as a fundamental idea that has been since then the underlining thought of all Splitgraphic exhibitions. During second Splitgraphic a series of exhibitions was organized with the concept of dialogue among artists of different artistic genres, printing techniques or even generations: Kristina Restović – Ivan Kožarić (Gallery Of Art Conservation Institute), Sandra Mateljan – Marko Pogačnik (Ethnographic Museum Split), Nikola Skokandić – Janice Wong (Gallery Of Art Conservation Institute), group exhibitions of Italian and Japanese printmakers (The Split City Museum) and Croatian and American photographers (Fotoklub Split).
The third Splitgraphic in 2007 was based on an idea of a female printmakers dialogue whose prints made two-thirds of the group exhibition. The Award for Young Artists was founded during the third Splitgraphic. Over the past years we have exhibited, supported and awarded young and unknown Croatian artists and made it one of Splitgraphic’s primary goals.
The fourth Splitgraphic in 2009 was developed as a dialogue and confrontation of printing techniques and questioning of graphic media in contemporary artistic tendencies. Apart from the group exhibition we organized three solo exhibitions (Dialogue Nevenka Arbanas and Maja Franković, exhibition of Brita Weglin and the exhibition of Dušan Džamonja). The retrospective exhibition of Dušan Džamonja’s prints and drawings was one of the Splitgraphic’s highest points. Splitgraphic in 2009 was up that moment the largest one, which signifies the importance of the event and the acclaim Splitgraphic gained.
Splitgraphic encouraged not only a dialogue among artists and printmaking techniques but also a dialogue of exhibition venues, one of the reasons being that we still lack our own space to work in, and the other the importance of connecting and establishing dialogue among city’s exhibition spaces. By installing exhibitions in various galleries during Splitgraphic biennials we created a dialogue and a connection among city structures “invading” them with graphic art. We had group and solo exhibitions in: Gallery Of Art Conservation Institute, The City Museum Of Split, Ethnographic Museum, Emanuel Vidović Gallery, Old City Hall, Gallery Loggia of POUS, gallery Studio Naranča.
Even more artists applied for fifth Splitgraphic, we had 205 applications for the group exhibition. The new feature of fifth Splitgraphic is the ONLINE part of the biennial and the online print exhibition on Splitgraphic’s web site. The new Artist’s award is introduced: the award is won by the print with most votes – artists and visitors of our web site vote for the best work. Sixty artists were chosen and are exhibited on the group Splitgraphic exhibition in Old City Hall and during November artist Hugo Besard, winner of Grand Prix 2009, will exhibit his prints in the same venue. The number of artists that have applied and a visit of one of today’s most renowned graphic artists who has won thirty-four international awards acknowledge our work so far. The award winners of the fifth Splitgraphic biennial are: Ingrid Ledent (Grand Prix 2011), Bogdan Miga i Masahiro Kasai (Special Awards), Masahiro Fukuda (Award for Longstanding Contribution to Printmaking), Maja Pintarić (Award for Inventivness in Printmaking), Mia Vučić (Young Artist Award) i Maria Alicia Zamora Noguera (Artist’s Award– ONLINE Splitgraphic).
Splitgraphic’s web site