Opening words
Every two years, starting from 2014, the Faculty of Arts and Design from Timișoara bec/gnated as winners by the jury. The International Miniature Art Biennale has, during its eight years of existence, defined a clear status among artistic events in Timișoara, presenting to the public small-sized works, seductive by their preciousness, by the relationship they establish with the usual spatial landmarks and through the intimate reception it privileges. The approach to the object and the careful scrutiny imposed by the very formal status of the miniature art, become premises of a type of relations that overcomes the artificially imposed physical and mental barriers. Valentina Ștefănescu, the initiator of this artistic manifestation, sensed from the beginning the potential of an event in which the freedom of movement of the works is not conditioned by their size. Freedom of movement has proven over time to also be freedom of communication, the multitude of artistic voices from the most diverse corners of the world creating a rich and fascinating mosaic at each edition.
The fifth edition of BIAMT brings together artists from thirty-five countries, grouped according to the means of artistic expression in five sections: graphics, painting, photography, sculpture/ceramics and textile arts. Each of these sections is relevant to how contemporary art decants the centuries-old tradition of miniature art practices – often linked to the symbolic-narrative style of incunabula illustrations – proposing current themes and opening new perspectives on plastic solutions adapted to small dimensions.
Regarding the narrow selection of awarded works, it stands under the sign of the moderation of plastic language, finesse and delicacy of representation. The painting Reportage II by Cristian Porumb uses a balanced chromatic range to render a human figure whose details are blurred by the interpenetration of gestural touches, giving a vibrant consistency to the pictorial surface. The same exacerbation of the tactile qualities of the surface is found in the case of the ceramic object made by Duygu Kornoşor Çınar, which surprises with its roughness, standing as a testimony of the creative process.
Manipulated photography and digital collage bring an additional touch of sobriety through the gray tones they use. Kalman Sztrharszky’s simple composition based on discrete plant forms contrasts with the load of detail present in Marek Grzyb and Raquel Gociol, both of whom base their works on intricate webs of lines.
The prize-winning work in the sculpture section, Unlok Me, belonging to Endre Farkas, conceptually deconstructs the form of an everyday object, a lock, using at the same time chromatic and formal associations that recall the synthetic language of minimalism of the years ‘ 60-’70. In contrast to this, the work Out Off by Dorina Horătău uses juxtapositions of “warm” materials, wood and layers of canvas, both referring to handiwork and craft, to pre-existing materials extracted from a certain context in order to give them a new life . A sense of recovery, both on an ideational and material level, is also found in the textile work Collecting Destroyed Places by Jakub Święcicki, where he intervenes with embroidery and burning on an older textile fragment.
For the 2022 edition of BIAMT, refinement seems to be the common denominator of the award-winning selection, speaking of the general preference of the jury of each section for plastic solutions that avoid excesses, be they chromatic or formal.
lect. PhD Maria Orosan
Returning to the attention of art lovers on the eve of the start of the year of European Culture hosted by the city on the Bega, the Timișoara International Biennale of Miniature Arts stubbornly reinvents itself, confirming with its presence once again the cultural vocation of the capital of Banat.
Even if the sizes of the works were somewhat reduced, conditioned by the regulations of the biennale as the event otherwise defines itself, the authors presented valuable works for judging, which can certainly be part of any public or private art collection.
The mission of choosing to be awarded the most inspired works from the hundreds sent for judging, proved extremely difficult due to the quality of the artistic productions of those who took part in the visual artistic competition, of a high professional level, both from the point of view of the techniques used – from the traditional ones to the newest and surprising mediums, as well as the concepts contained in the works presented in the competition.
The large number of countries present at the event, through their representatives, made the organization of the biennale a challenge, coordinated in an admirable way by its director and the team behind the entire organizational process, which, all of them deserve appreciation for the effort and dedication with which they brought the accomplishment of the project.
Event initiator
Professor PhD Vică Adorian
Once every two years we celebrate the miniature and the mobility of art. We have reached the fifth edition of this event and we notice that each edition brings to the fore consistent artists who have been evolving since the first edition within the International Biennale of Miniature Arts, but also young artists or artists who found out about its existence later.
Thus, in the composition of universality we have works from Romania, England, Italy, France, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro, Turkey, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil , South Africa, Malaysia, Iran, India, Australia, USA, South Korea, Latvia, Germany, Japan, Israel, Ireland, Finland, Sweden
Thirty-two countries united under the same syntagma Today we saved the world. Of course, the theme of this edition brings new problems but also new solutions to the online exhibition. Keeping in mind that it is a current but also recurring theme, the artists captured in the images the concern to save but also the concept of salvation. Their stories are embedded in 10/10cm dimensions or three-dimensional in 10/10/10cm dimensions. A small space but apparently quite consistent because here we read image, concept, gesture and given meanings.
If you look carefully you will discover that although we live at considerable distances we think the same, we ask ourselves the same problems and in the end we choose to meet through this kind of manifestations. I communicated with almost all the artists present here and I discovered empathy and a great openness of each of them to the idea of giving the world by any artistic means a piece of their imagination but also a story.
Each edition brought new ideas but also very hot topics. Thus looking into the history of BIAMT we will discover the importance of the years we have gone through, we will have in front of us accounts of important moments but also the simple joy we expect after a deed we do.
I believe that BIAMT is a community and it brings to the artists who are part of it a new way of looking at the world. The city of Timișoara and the University of the West through the Faculty of Arts and Design gain great importance through this event, becoming a regular meeting place for all the artists who participated or are participating in it.
Curator
Associate Professor PhD Valentina Ștefănescu
Blank
Jury
|
Graphics Vică Adorian – Romania |
Painting Dana Constantin – Romania |
Photo Dorel Găină – Romania |
|
Sculpture / Ceramics Bogdan Nueleanu – Romania |
Textile Arts Aleksandra Herisz – Poland |
Organizing Team
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Valentina Stefanescu – project coordinator
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ion Gherman – graphic designer at BIAMT
Simina Raluca Rădulescu – document coordinator
As a project coordinator, I would like to thank this team that has dedicated its support to the online realization of the International Biennial of Miniature Arts Timișoara 2022. Thanks to the jury team for their fairness and promptness. I especially thank Dean Camil Mihaescu for the exhibition possibility he opened by creating a website dedicated to online exhibitions.
Awards
Nominations
