Opening Words

An auspicious start

The first edition of the International Collage Biennial – Collage Obsession, organized under the auspices of the Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timisoara, proposed to artists, passionate about collage art, an exciting theme, which brings, in the online gallery ArteFact, the game with various elements that anchor us through the substrate in the immediate reality.

Selecting, cutting, associating, collecting, organizing, overlapping and finally reconstructing a unique image is ultimately a way of looking at the contemporary world. Artists read the daily and interpret it. The collage invaded the art scene and became part of everyday life because this composing process takes into account gesture and places us in the field of action. We can thus see it as a revolutionary gesture that consolidates cultural constructions.

Collage is a way of looking at the world. This invitation to play, to the possibility of gathering different elements on the same field, to the way of suggesting unusual relationships is therefore reflected in the content of this event.

The collage’s obsession becomes real on this exhibition territory, consistently following the course of this exhibition. The diversity of expressions turns into a path that can be easily followed and that is composed in the visual memory of the viewer as a whole.

Associate Professor PhD Valentina Ștefănescu

 

Collage Obsession

 

The current edition of the International Collage Biennial prospected the theme of the hybrid language, meant to highlight a personal identity and freedom. In the vision of each participant, what was exposed were the feelings related to a personal way of connecting to the consciousness of the current times. Through introspection, each one created a rapport with the unexpected changes in society and sought to highlight a way of reacting, which sometimes remained independent from, other times completely affected by what was going on all around. Referring to themes from the public space, but also from the intimate corner of one’s own abode, the participants managed to transmit a state of mind through a collaged visual manifestation.

The absence of positive changes, which would improve the human and surrounding medium’s life, were two of the subjects represented in diverse figurative and abstract forms, varying means of juxtaposition of certain elements and disparate materials in a whole image. The pieces refer to two distinct spaces and transmit peculiar messages. A critical message is prevalent in the public space, by representing the destruction of the natural world and the impact this has on the human folk. The image of seclusion in one’s intimate home is illustrated in the private space, where one can see an introspection towards one’s own identity and a trial to find shelter from the dangers observed outside. The local context of each person’s country appeared to have a grip on the freedom of expression and thought that the artists used to have, which represented themes for the art pieces that described isolation and the withdrawal in oneself.

Following the pieces, the audience is gripped by a feeling of a virtual journey, which traverses countries and regions, which drops by cities or landscapes, and which gradually visits the home of internal sentiments, exposed through an autonomous language, developed in a space that is considered safe, and which bursts into collaged visual images.

PhD. Gabriela Robeci

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Jury

Prof.PhD Daniela Constantin – president of jury

Assoc.Prof.PhD Valentina Ștefănescu

Lecturer PhD Remus Rotaru

Awards

BICCO Award is given to the artist Suzana Fantanariu_Romania

First Prize is given to the artist Olesya Dzhurayeva_Ukraine_Fragile memories III

Second Prize is given to the artist Milana Kosanovic_Kilim XX

Third Prize is given to the artist Engin Aslan_Turkey_Remnants of a day

The Jury Award is given to the artist Kalina Milanova_Bulgaria_Fabriano 5

Mentions

 

Corina Mutu_Romania_Disabled Device

Ana Maria Panaitescu_Romania_Farmacopeea

Meral Agar_Turkey_PATH

Nominations

 

Ernesto Casas_México_Minotauro

Reka Adorjani_Romania_Roots and Wings

Ovidiu Petca_Romania_Mirror

Irena Lawruszko_ Ukraine_Influenced by time VI

Simona Gocan_Romania_SUA_Un calator #3

Helene de Ridder_Belgium_The language of threads 2

 

Catalogue

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Organizing Team

 

Project manager 
Associate prof. PhD. Valentina Ștefănescu
Project team
Simina Raluca Rădulescu
Event Graphics
Ion Gherman