The exhibition can be visited until December 9!

In the 1980s, already also in Romania, there could be felt effects which indicated the emptying out of the programme of the multiplied image, which had been overarching in international terms till then. The Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, established in 1955, was one of the most important biennales of international importance. At that time, in the spirit of the values of democracy and pacifism, it was a good opportunity, also for the local scene, to create an international biennial collecting multiplied images. By 1985, it presented the image of a static art salon exhibition, adhering to rigid norms; the following years brought a process of reform.

At the same time, Imre Baász was forced to take a step forward, searching for alternatives within his own creative programme, giving space to the idea of the work of art as a performative process. This is also the origin of the practice of printing as a message delivery mechanism. In the context of his institutional work, the Medium 1 event, of national interest, held at the Gallery in Sfântu Gheorghe in 1981, cost him his job. The previously approved national exhibition was, afterwards, categorized by the political power of the time as a threat to the system and the public.

Imre Baász’s tradition is an important part of recent history through its practical, applied nature; it is through this formulation that today’s declarative level can be surpassed. The exhibition entitled The Bird Lives* was organized in the framework of the Grafic Art Biennial of Szeklerland. The exhibition is an attempt to put together a portrait of Imre Baász, complemented by contemporary art projects belonging to this intellectual tradition.

* The Bird Lives is Imre Baász’s mailart work multiplied with serigraphy in 1985. The following year he offered it to the local professional community as the subject of an exhibition. In the exhibition catalogue, he writes: “a work not only suggests the possibility of change, but also intervenes in the correlations of the material world, rearranging the world according to changed needs or anxieties.”

Mulțumiri speciale: Pálma Baász-Szigeti
Mulțumiri: Mădălina Brașoveanu, Claudiu Cobilanschi, Emilia Suciu, Dr. Ralph Gruber, Sándor Sebesi