Photo: archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno
Photo: archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno
Photo: archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno
Photo: archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno
Photo: archive of the Moravian Gallery in Brno
The travelling exhibition held by the Moravian Gallery in Brno in collaboration with Czech Centres, Prague
5/9-29/9/2012 Czech centre Prague
Czech centre Prague / Rytirska 31, Praha 1 /www.czechcentres.cz/prague
The Moravian Gallery in Brno / Husova 14, Brno / http://www.bienalebrno.org/, www.moravska-galerie.cz
Author: Marta Sylvestrova
Biennial in the Box is a travelling exhibition organised by the Moravian Gallery in collaboration with the Czech Centre, Prague. Its objective is to draw attention, as part of the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno 2012, to the importance of the Brno Biennial in the development of visual culture in the Czech Republic and beyond over the past fifty years.
The exhibition plan was created by Radim Pesko, Chairman of the Brno Biennial Organisation Committee, working with Adam Machacek and Tomas Celizna, new members in the management of this year's Organisation Committee. Credit for project concept goes to Marek Pokorny, Director of the Moravian Gallery in Brno and of the Brno Biennial. The organisation team was headed by Marta Sylvestrova, curator of the MG graphic design collection, who has been involved in the organisation of the Brno Biennial since 1978.
The exhibition is a postmodern citation of Marcel Duchamp's famous suitcase, and its appropriation by the Brno Biennial is no coincidence. "Joseph Beyus: Art and Advertising" was a unique event, held in collaboration with Viennese gallery owner Julius Hummel as part of the Brno Biennial 1998 series, which explored the oscillations in the relationship between free art and advertising. It was followed, two years later, by a no less successful exhibition of Marcel Duchamp's work from Hummel's collection of modern art. The quotation of Duchamp's Box in a Suitcase [Boite-en-valise] produced in various modifications in 1935-1940 and 1958-1968 as a miniature Duchamp museum, transforms the "Biennial in a Suitcase" exhibition into a mobile biennial museum. Its content, naturally stored in a suitcase, can be altered for each destination in the course of the project's travels around the world under the auspices of Czech Centres, just as Marcel Duchamp changed the contents of his Box in a Suitcase.
"Biennial in a Suitcase" will present rare iconic pieces, as originals and miniature reproductions, replicas, prints, photographs, films and digital documents. These will facilitate communication of the significance of the Brno Biennial, one the first regular international exhibitions (established in 1963). From the first Brno Biennial, held in 1964 as a national exhibition of promotional graphics and poster, the event went on to win international recognition in the liberal atmosphere of the 1960s. Thanks to the organisational strategy of Biennial founders Jan Rajlich Sr. and Jiri Hlusicka, and the courage of their innovative successors Ales Najbrt, Tomas Machek and Alan Zaruba, the event retains its renown to this day. It still counts among the most important art and design exhibitions, those that help set and compare trends in visual communication, design and the new media.
The Brno Biennial is a leading artistic brand in the European museum context and in the world of graphic design. Under the guidance of Marek Pokorny, heading the Moravian Gallery since 2004, and the Moravian Gallery organisation team led by Mirka Pluhackova, the Brno Biennial organisation secretary since 1983, the Biennial has not only advanced successfully but has also been a vehicle for radical innovation.
The exhibition shows a selection of more than a hundred exhibits from the collections of the Moravian Gallery acquired through Biennial competitions, highlights of the Brno Biennials from 1964 to the present. The artists taking part are numbered among the legends of Czech and international graphic design. Their works have gone on to become visual icons of their time, convincingly conveyed through graphically impressive "words and images".
Artists represented at the exhibition: Saul Bass, Wim Crouwel, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Alan Fletcher, Shigeo Fukuda, Milton Glaser, Ivan Chermayeff, Seymour Chwast, Mitsuo Katsui, Herb Lubalin, Ladislav Sutnar, Victor Vasarely, Andy Warhol, Tadanori Yokoo, Hermann Zapf, Julia Hasting, Stefan Sagmeister, Ralph Schraivogel, Martin Woodtli and others.
Biennial in the Box showcases, alongside historical exhibits, work by leading Czech graphic designers who have taken part in the management and organisation of the event, including the creation of its visual identity, and work by graphic designers who have enriched the jubilee 25th year of the Brno Biennial 2012 with innovative variations.
Artists associated with the history of the Brno Biennial: Josef Flejsar, Robert V. Novak, Jan Solpera, Jaroslav Sura, Rostislav Vanek, Jan Rajlich Sr., Ales Najbrt, Tomas Machek, Alan Zaruba and others.
This year's concept and visual style of the Brno Biennial were created by Radim Pesko, Adam Machacek, Tomas Celizna, Adela Svobodova, Jiri Thyn, Karel Haloun, Kveta Pacovska, Experimental Jetset and Kasia Korczak.
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