"Across the Europe" Installation @ LETTRA – Krakow 2024, sign and letter, ars longa, vita brevis

Exhibition is part of the series: Around the Book, LETTRA – Krakow 2024, sign and letter, ars longa, vita brevis.

Organizer: Association of Polish Artist and Designers, Krakow Branch (ZPAP OK)

Co-organizers: Jagiellonian Library, Faculty of Polish Studiers of Jagiellonian University, Department of Editing and Auxiliary Sciences, Students Circle of Editors, International Print Triennial Society in Krakow.

Exhibition Venue: Jagiellonian Library in Krakow

Exhibition Dates: June 10th to July 31st, 2024

Vernissage: June 10th, 2024

Exhibition Scope: International

Curator: Dr. hab. Teresa B. Frodyma

Installation "Across The Europe" (mix media), 2024. @ Around the Book, LETTRA – Krakow 2024, sign and letter, ars longa, vita brevis

Around the Book is a series of exhibitions organized by the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Krakow Branch, held at the Gallery of the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow. Its continuation is also represented by the LETTRA – Krakow 2024, sign and letter exhibition, held regularly every three years since 2006 and accompanying each edition of the International Graphic Triennial in Krakow. The central theme of this book-related project is the maxim of Hippocrates, permanently appropriated by the fine arts: ars longa, vita brevis (art is long, life is short). Expanding on this aphorism related to medicine (in antiquity considered one of the arts), one can develop: Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile (art is long, life is short, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult). Today, as pointed out by Maria Poprzędzka, who recalls this maxim, one can broaden this Hippocratic principle in reference to contemporary art, suggesting that there is "little faith in permanence and endurance, and more in fleeting opportunities and the treacherous of experimentation" /.../ and that "in the art of the 20th century, loss and unfulfillment have become its indispensable part, almost defining the most important axes of its development" (Impas, Terytoria Książki Foundation, 2020). She summarizes this at the end (with an example of Damien Hirst's ashtray with 32 cigarette butts) with thirty-one arguments for the end of art... but is it so?

The aim of the current project is to enable artists to express themselves through the broad concept of typography, especially that related to books, but also as a way of "organizing" space or surfaces... The form and material of the graphic symbol/letter can reflect the creator’s personality, serving as a pretext for their actions and self-realization. We expect works primarily related to books, especially artistic ones, but also graphic works, drawings, objects, and so on. To a large extent, or above all, sketches/sketchbooks will be seen as the initial creative actions in realizing an idea or concept. These are the seeds of further creative work. They reveal the natural origin of the final piece. However, there are no limitations in the presentation or choice of objects submitted for the exhibition.The number of participants, traditionally corresponding to the set of alphabet characters (e.g., the Latin alphabet with 26 letters or, expanded with Polish diacritical marks, 35; including numbers, 45; including digraphs... etc.), may change depending on the responses to the invitation and the dimensions of the works. The visual presentation aims to demonstrate the power of artists' imagination in their creative endeavors; the symbol or letter is merely a pretext for creative action. This year's motto of the exhibition is familiar to every artist – ars longa, vita brevis – welcoming every student crossing the threshold of the academy and guiding them in their educational and creative endeavors towards achieving the status of an artist. It is worth adding and reminding that Ars longa, vita brevis, especially the later part of the aphorism (mentioned earlier), refers to current events in the art world in general. The exhibition aims to prove to skeptics and pessimists that art is neithersuperficial nor ephemeral (a common misconception attributed to contemporary art). Artists are encouraged to attempt to counteract this reality...