Curator´s comment
Ágnes Schramm
The Slovak Union of Visual Arts organised the 1st Biennial of Applied Arts Bratislava 2007 with the financial support of the Culture Ministry of SR. It is a partnering event of the Biennial of Free-style Art, the first year of which took place last year. According to the contest statute, only registered members of associations allocated under the SVÚ may attend the competition. The jury selects contestants from the members. Curators may choose to invite guests who would participate in a non-competition section of the exhibition.
The exhibition concept borrows from a recently recognised definition of individual visual arts sections taking into account materials from which final artworks or product have been made. The same definition, limited to authors and artworks, is presented to the students of the Division of applied arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. The artworks are distributed around the exhibition area to identify new relations of harmony or tension between colours, surfaces and volumes; expressions and contents as well as generation gaps. The project aspires to become a Visegrad- or Europe-type biennial.
Applied + experienced = survived (A reason to overcome conventional nuances?)
Mária Nepšinská
An exhibition of „applied“ art returned to the premises of the House of Arts after long seven years. The voluminous exhibition presents works of various artists and reflects a multilateral development the Slovak art underwent during the late years. It was an intention to present works of older as well as younger generation of visual artists and designers, pursuing successful careers, at home and abroad. The exhibition does not aspire to present an objective picture of development in the Slovak artistic crafts and design. It is rather an attempt to infiltrate into the contemporary visual arts culture.
Artistic works inspired by traditional crafts remained to be defined as the „applied“ art, however, they often assume various forms and extend to the free-style art or design. Decorative or functional objects are developed with regard to specific characteristics of a material and processing technology, however, an artist is free to apply their creative thinking and utilise strengths of a medium they have selected. Authors seek to work with various topics through traditional materials as well as to use modern materials and up-to-date technologies for unusual purposes.