Date: 23.09.2014
Every artist creates his or her own journal/diary that transfers the thoughts and reflects the pieces of the artist’s soul under the influence of the particular moments of life.
Dorothea Fleiss
The Russian State Art Library hosted the 3rd European International Biennale of Book Art. The reason why the Library was chosen as a site was because of its Artist’s Book Club and the numerous exhibitions dedicated to this genre of book art. It is extremely important to preserve the art of a handcrafted book during the modern times of the digital formats. That is why our Library carries out an active cooperation with masters of the Artist’s Book who have the opportunity to expose their works in the Library.
As mentioned by the Director of the Library Ada Kolganova: “The exhibition is completely outstanding because the very concept positioned today is outstanding – as an artistic and cultural phenomenon and as a fact of creative life as well. <…> It is remarkable that the exhibition has got its own subject that emphasizes the relevance of diaries. The diary as a message, the diary as a life on one’s own. <…> I believe it is important for us to make the exhibition known to as many people as possible, especially the young ones, especially the students of humanities. And we must do a lot so that the exhibition would not only be a widely-known event but also prove its value in all perspectives – the cultural, aesthetic and historical”.
The Biennale was organized by the RSAL together with the International Association “The Artist’s Book” and D. Fleiss & East West Artists e. V. and became an extremely important, a milestone event for Russian authors working in the genre of the Artist’s Book.
According to Mikhail Pogarsky, the curator of the event, “this exhibition, that has been so long awaited by all of us, supports the recognition of the success gained by the Russian Artist’s Book in the world community. It is also important that the contemporary world Artist’s Book is so widely presented in Russia for the first time”.
TV report of the “Kultura” channel
The exhibition presents the works of 61 authors from Russia and worldwide, including Germany, the Great Britain, France, Italy, China, Japan, Romania, Hungary, the USA, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Latvia and the Ukraine.
The International Biennale proved that there are no borders for the art and no political disagreements can prevent cultural exchange between the artists from all over the world.
The opening presentation was marked by the speeches of the artists and members of the Biennale’s Steering Committee Vassily Vlasov and Valery Korchagin and the poet Konstantin Kedrov.
The exhibition is open in the Blue Hall of the Library from 05.09.14 till 27.09.14, 12.00-18.00, Thursdays till 20.00. Sundays – closed.