Triennial of Ceramics

The Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade organised the 13^th Triennial of Ceramics, the most important manifestation of creative art in the field of ceramics in our country. At the same time, the event celebrates its 40^th anniversary.

By Vesna Knežević Baletić

The Triennial of Ceramics, the most important art event in ceramics in Serbia, has been organised at the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade and will be open from May 14^th to June 30^th. Along with its regular activities, this year’s 13^th edition also marks its 40^th anniversary. The Museum of Applied Arts traditionally organises this event together with the Modern Gallery’s Fine Art Meetings from the City of Subotica, with the objective to display the most important works from contemporary art ceramics and ceramic design created in Serbia in the previous three years. This year’s exhibition consists of three elements: the Jury-judged Exhibition 13^th Triennial of Ceramics, a Retrospective Exhibition of Selected, Awarded and Bought-out Works from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and the Solo Exhibition of Biljana Milenković, the winner of the 12^th Triennial Grand Prix.

Retrospective Exhibition

The Retrospective Exhibition of contemporary art ceramics from the rich collection of the Museum of Applied Arts offers an insight into the works of artists who have marked, through their creative imagination, certain periods of Yugoslav and Serbian ceramics. The collection contains chosen and awarded creations of artists from 1974 to the present.

"On one side the collection illustrates how the interests of artists have been changing from the minor use of ceramics through inspiration with folk ceramics and the adoption of contemporary visual expressions. Apart from displaying all ceramic techniques in the last decades of the 20^th century, more attention is being paid to exploration of material and forms. In this period a combination of ceramics with other materials is evident, the first multimedia explorations were recorded whose results in the form of complex creations are evident in the works of younger artists during the early years of the 21^st century", says Biljana Vukotić, curator at MAA, in the catalogue to the exhibition.

The exhibition from the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts displays works of artists belonging to a wide span of generations and show different aesthetics, styles, iconographic and technical preferences. The exhibition presents artists who, through their creations, marked certain periods of Yugoslav and Serbian contemporary ceramics but also those who, due mostly to a non-existent market, abandoned this media too soon.

Contemporary Ceramics

The Jury-judged Exhibition is the principal exhibition of the Triennial of Ceramics and from the very beginning its objective has been to present the best and most contemporary achievements in the field of contemporary art ceramics and design. Selections for this year’s exhibition were conducted by the Artistic Council of the 13^th Triennial of ceramics, whose members were Biljana Vukotić, Dušan Vujičić, Nenad Radić, Dimitrije Tadić and Olga Šram. The Council believes that this year’s Triennial of Ceramics will be remembered by its simplicity, clearness and the succinct style of some ceramic forms and also by the dominant white colour of materials. Expressing pleasure that this year also appears to have brought new young artists, the Council regretted that this year recorded a smaller number of registered works for exhibition and a smaller number of artists than was the case with previous exhibitions.

The international jury whose members were Bernd Pfannkuche from Germany, editor of one of the most prestigious magazines for European ceramics, New Ceramics, Jindra Vikova from the Czech Republic and Karel Plemenitaš from Slovenia awarded the following authors: the Triennial of Ceramics Grand Prix went to Larisa Ackov, the second award to Jelena Miletić and the third to Velimir Vukičević.

The solo exhibition within the Triennial this year presents Biljana Milenović, the winner of the 12^th Triennial Grand Prix. The exhibition entitled Every part searches for its whole and longs to return to it consists of five panels, each with its own title that is a sort of road sign in the poetic world of Biljana Milenović: Q-tak (Corner), Papillon, Lisboa, The End, The Beginning.

"The specific feature of her works is a quite personal approach to ceramics, which is evident in reducing its expressive possibilities with the aim of widening the field of exploration: a reduced selection of elements –pillowlike, square tiles – forming unique mosaic structures that, like a coordinating system, mark certain surfaces, giving it an arranged almost geometrical character … At the same time, reduced expression is emphasised by the use of white and black colours. It seems that Biljana Milenović attempts through her works to determine the borderline between the minimal and necessary to produce certain visual wholes", says Maja Stanković in the catalogue for exhibition.

The accompanying programme that runs parallel with the 13^th Triennial of Ceramics includes lectures by professional artists, workshops and exhibitions and takes place at the Faculty of Architecture, the Gallery of the House of Culture "Studentski Grad" (Student Camp), the Garden Centre, storehouse "Magazin" in Kraljević Marko St., "The English Pot" shop and the Cultural Center in Sopot.

Authors:
1. Ivan Tabaković 2. Larisa Ackov 3. Velimir Vukićević 4. Hanibal Salvaro 5. Jelena Miletić 6. Lajoš Vekonj 7. Katarina Lazić-Vasiljević	8. Igor Milićević 9. Ivan Albreht 10. Biljana Milenović 11. Mirjana Isaković 12. Branislav Stajević 13. Pavle Simić 14. Branislav Spasojčević	15. Biljana Milenović 16. Paula-Kasinen Stajević 17. Vladimir Avramčević 18. Tijana Dujović-Liščević 19. Karel Plemenitaš