Curator of the Biennial - Tudor Zbârnea
With every occurring edition, the International Biennial of Painting in Chișinău, situates itself more firmly in the landscape of cultural events of an international scale, organized in Moldova. The 7th installments, taking place this year, will be held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Moldova, as part of the European Days of Heritage event program. The currently restrictive conditions imposed by the pandemic, affect public manifestations on an international scale.
Even though, we’ve encountered a number of technical difficulties, pertaining to transportation of art works via the international postal services, which during this time functioned with complications, the exhibition has participants from 35 countries, including: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, China, Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Germany, India, Iran, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, The Great Britain, Morocco, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Panama, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary.
As a result of a generous offer, of more than 1500 artworks sent in by 400 artists, 192 works, signed by 186 artists were selected. Unfortunately, some of the artists who passed the preselection process, were not able to expedite their works, because of the pandemic restrictions in their countries. Out of the total number of participants, 53 are from Republic of Moldova, 64 from Romania, and 69 from other countries. The majority of artists are members of the younger generation. Starting from first editions, we’ve made it a point, to offer platform to younger artists together with those who’ve already achieved notoriety. As a result of that, through the years, we see an ever increasing number of young artists, who maintain a growing interest towards our exhibition, and who substantiate an exceptional evolution of the pictorial discourse, while managing to establish themselves in the international exhibition area.
Like with the previous edition, there will be a conference organized, with presentations from esteemed historians and critics of art: Pavel Șușară, who was also the president of the jury, from Romania, as well as, Paolo Manazzo and Pietro Finelli from Italy. As a purpose the conference proposes a discussion of topics surrounding contemporary art.
It must also be mentioned that, as part of our collaboration with the Museum Complex of Iasi, a selection of works from the biennial will be exhibited at the National Art Museum, which is a segment of the Complex. For the first time, in the framework of this year’s events, we will exhibit a selection of works signed by the winners of six previous editions, that are now part of the museum’s collection. This selection is a testament to the creative effervescence of a group of artists who belong to different cultural spaces, presenting an array of topics and an interesting stylistic dynamic. The fact that, throughout the years, the awarded artworks encompass a broad stylistic variety, where we can find artists engaging diverse techniques and artistic solutions, proves that the thought process behind jury selection is not concentrated on aesthetic preferences, but rather encourages a diversity of the authentic form, professionalism and innovation within this culturally versatile group. It is worth to mention, that the great majority of awarded artists from previous editions, are on a continuous and thrilling artistic ascension, which can be remarked in their active participation in international exhibitions and other public performances, as well as, their developements in the workshop.
Given the generous offer from artists worldwide, this particular selection proved to be quite rigorous. Particularly lavish in their offer were participants from Romania, Poland, Cyprus and Bulgaria. The local art scene too, is represented by an imposing number of artists, many of whom are established within a convincing and well-articulated vision synchronized with the stylistic requirements of the international exhibition context. The current edition, not unlike the previous ones, is defined by professionalism and diversity in stylistic and artistic expression of participating artists who creatively approach various themes. Starting from pieces reflecting on the social oscillations, ingrained in aesthetic tendencies of their place of origin, with elements of precise reality or photographic realism, ending with those oriented towards abstract or figurative form, guided by an inherent impulse.
Digital artworks and art objects, were admitted for the very first time. Always advocating for freedom of artistic expression, the exhibition tasks itself with reflections upon a diversity of concepts and individual aesthetics of creators worldwide, said fact confers individuality to each work displayed, while simultaneously converging them into a pertinent dialogue regarding the current tendencies of visual arts.
In the end, we would like to give credit to the constant support offered by a number of public and private institutions, which make possible, bringing to live the monumentally important manifestation of international scope, that is the International Biennial of Painting in Chișinău, 2021. We, therefore, offer our sincerest gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Moldova, the City Hall Department of Culture, The Sturza Family Foundation and to the permanent partner of The National Art Museum of Moldova, Mobiasbanca OTP Group, to all those who support the synchronization of the local aesthetic tendencies with the international ones, and the participation of domestic creators at this international event, together with the alignment of the Republic of Moldova with cosmopolite cultural values.
Curator of the Biennial - Tudor Zbârnea