The International Poznań Graphic Arts Biennale is a recurring art competition
devoted to contemporary printmaking, organised since 1999. Initially conceived as a
review of student work, it has gradually evolved into an international artistic event
with an expanded programme. The biennale is organised by the Faculty of Graphic
Arts at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznań.
In 1999, on the initiative of Professor Stefan Ficner, the Student Graphics Biennale was established in Poznań. Conceived as a cyclical competition, it aimed to present the artistic attitudes of a young generation emerging from higher education institutions across Poland. Each edition was accompanied by an exhibition of selected works presented at the Arsenal Municipal Gallery in Poznań, together with a catalogue documenting the exhibition. In its early years, the biennale fulfilled an important integrative function within the academic community, becoming a forum for the exchange of experience related to art education as well as to new technological and technical approaches in printmaking.
Beginning with its 11th edition in 2019, under the artistic direction of curator Maciej Kurak, the Student Graphics Biennale began to evolve into a broader review of artistic practices associated with printmaking. One of the first changes was the introduction of titles for the post-competition exhibitions. In subsequent editions, the composition of the jury was expanded beyond academic staff to include prominent critics and art theorists. Changes were also introduced in exhibition design — from the 12th edition onwards, exhibition designers collaborated directly with curators. From the 13th edition, each biennale adopted a thematic framework to which participating artists responded through newly produced or submitted works. The process of internationalisation also intensified: while the 13 th edition was dedicated to artists from Poland and Ukraine, the 14th competition opened to artists worldwide. This expansion was accompanied by measures allowing practitioners beyond academic institutions to take part in the biennale. Moreover, the forthcoming 15th edition will no longer be limited solely to emerging artists.
These transformations were intended to shift the academic competition towards a fully developed artistic project. Structural changes enabled a stronger engagement with issues shaping contemporary social reality, addressed within clearly defined thematic frameworks in successive editions. The biennale increasingly came tounction as a platform for discourse concerning contemporary social conditions. This development was accompanied by critical reflection on art itself — through the introduction of new modes of articulation and the inclusion of diverse creative
positions, allowing artistic practice to more adequately reflect contemporary social phenomena. The changes were intended to position graphic arts in dialogue with other fields engaged in developing critical approaches to everyday life and to ongoing transformations affecting individuals and society. Consequently, participation and anticipation have become key attitudes shaping the International
Poznań Graphic Arts Biennale. The continuing evolution of the event’s format is supported not only through accompanying programmes — workshops, exhibitions and conferences — but also through the creation of collaborative networks and a discursive environment exploring the potential of creative practices embedded in media-based communication (graphic arts) within a post-disciplinary and post-artistic context.
14th Poznań Graphic Arts Biennale – ‘Import/Export’
The theme of the first fully international edition of the biennale, ‘Import/Export’,
addressed issues of economic and cultural geography, highlighting hierarchical
dependencies between core countries and peripheral or semi-peripheral regions.
The point of departure was a reflection on processes such as self-colonisation,
aspirations to emulate models defined by dominant centres, and the construction of
alternative universal values grounded in local historical and geographical specificity.
The notions of ‘import’ and ‘export’ referred to the exchange of culture-forming
phenomena within contemporary art.
13th Biennale of Graphic Arts – ‘Error’
Held in spring 2023 in Poznań, the 13 th Biennale of Graphic Arts explored the theme
‘error’ — understood as a concept through which art critiques reality as flawed and
imperfect, responsible for generating negative phenomena while simultaneously
proposing possibilities for transformation within culture and society. In this context,
error functioned as an impulse towards engaged artistic activism, stimulating
alternative forms of change.
12th Biennale of Student Graphic Arts – ‘Antibodies’
The post-competition exhibition ‘Antibodies’ [Polish: Przeciwciała], conceived in the
context of the pandemic, referenced medical terminology while addressing broader
transformations within art and social relations. The exhibition examined values
shaping shifts in modes of thinking and the formation of cultural patterns, focusing on
the search for alternative solutions and revealing systemic flaws alongside
possibilities for their correction. Through their often subversive character, the works
presented by young artists explored contemporary interpersonal relations grounded
not in commodity exchange but in reflection upon alternative perceptions of reality.
Processes of reification and alienation — contributing to the objectification of social
relations — were examined in relation to values transcending the consequences of
the system based on capital accumulation[9][10].
11th Biennale of Student Graphic Arts – ‘Bunt’
The 11 th edition coincided with the centenary of the Poznań-based artistic group Bunt
[English: rebellion], founded in 1918. The artists associated with Bunt addressed
socially engaged themes, critically responding to the realities of their time and
participating in debates concerning the possibility of creating a new social order.
Their practice extended beyond local concerns, emphasising utilitarian content and
representing an avant-garde tendency oriented towards the ‘reconstruction of the
world’. As in previous editions, the biennale was organised in cooperation with
academic art centres throughout Poland. Drawing on this network, the competition
became a platform for discussion linking art and society, addressing the role of graphic arts in contemporary culture and the development of its medial language,
particularly in relation to metaphor and interpretation.
1st –10th Student Graphics Biennale
The first ten editions of the competition were addressed exclusively to students of
Polish art academies. The organiser was the Department of Graphics at the
University of the Arts in Poznań, and the jury consisted primarily of graphic artists
and lecturers from Polish universities. The programme focused mainly on
printmaking techniques and explored the creative potential of graphic media.
More about the 15th Poznań Graphic Arts Biennale
[1] Graphic arts – a field of art related to media message. It includes all forms of creative activity that interact with a common, socially shaped visual language.The area of graphic arts involves all forms of printing (such as offset, photocopying and digital printing), including classic graphic techniques (such as woodcut, linocut, lithography, metal techniques and serigraphy), as well as activities performed using modern information media (such as press, books, internet, television and external screens). It includes artistic activity related to the use of graphic language – simplifications, synthesis, condensation and visual communication (accepted and commonly understood visual content) – aimed at creating new forms of creative expression. Hence, graphic arts include interventions in urban space, artnet, templates, collage techniques, archival records, graphic installations, actions on billboards, murals, comments on existing information carriers, leaflets, original posters, as well as graphic works on paper or canvas and on other surfaces’. Maciej Kurak (ed.), Bunt. Nowe ekspresje, Poznań: Uniwersytet Artystyczny w Poznaniu, 2021, p. 305.