The artists taking part in the event are divided into two categories. Category A features professional designers, whose works will be shown at the Poster Museum in Wilanów (a residential area of Warsaw). Works of debuting artists will make up Category B. These will be displayed at the Salon Akademii gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
This prestigious event is an ennobling experience for all participants. Numerous significant artists have played a part in the history of the Biennale, many of whom have become classics of the field.
“The International Poster Biennale was and remains the most important open competition of this sort in the world, juxtaposing the tradition of the ‘Polish poster school’ with foreign works,” says Mariusz Knorowski, curator at the Poster Museum in Wilanów, “It is a one-of-a-kind artistic lexicon of knowledge of the contemporary world as interpreted by graphic designers, who care about the perception of the phenomena and facts of their reality. It is the greatest forum for exchange of artistic ideas and aesthetic experiments.”
In this year’s edition, works could be submitted online. 3,814 posters were sent and evaluated by the international jury consisting of Stephan Bundi, David Crowley, Kenya Hara, Jerzy Porębski, Silvia Sfligiotti and Jakub Hakobo Stępień. Judges have selected 349 works for Category A, and 64 for Category B. At the next stage, during the session in Warsaw, the jury will award prizes – one Gold, two Silver and three Bronze Medals in Category A and the “Henryk Tomaszewski Golden Debut” award in Category B.
Apart from the competition, the organizers have prepared other attractions. During the event, visitors will have a chance to admire works of the winners of last year's biennale – Tetsuro Minorikawa (Japan) and Jianping He (Germany), as well as works by the 24th IPB jury members - Stephan Bundi (Switzerland), Kenya Hara (Japan) and Jakub Stępień Hakobo (Poland).
The competition has been organized by the Poster Museum in Wilanów since 1994. However, this year’s edition has been planned in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and – for the first time – with the Association of Applied Graphic Designers STGU.
The Poster Museum in Wilanów opened on 4 June 1968 as a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw. One of the main initiators of the first institution of this kind in the world was the then Director of the National Museum, Professor Stanisław Lorentz, and the main manager was Joanna Fijałkowska. The chosen location was the site of the former riding school of the Wilanów Palace complex. The museum currently houses a collection of over 34,000 Polish posters and over 24,000 foreign posters. The collection is regularly expanded with the posters presented each year at the biennale. Apart from exhibitions aiming to bring poster art to a broad public, the Museum also runs publishing and educational projects. The International Poster Biennale and its archives have been held at the museum premises since 1994.
Source: press materials, ed. & translated: Katarzyna Maksimiuk, 20.05.2014