International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC)
Museum's tender metamorphosis time and again
How to shape the future of a museum that can look back on almost 40 years of history? How to carry on a biennale with a seventy-year tradition? These questions remain at the forefront of our minds at the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC) as we pave the way forward.
MGLC is a museum that pushes beyond its edges. Located in the heart of Ljubljana's Tivoli Park, MGLC is housed in two exceptional historical buildings: Tivoli Mansion since 1986 and Švicarija since 2017. As a state-designated museum and keeper of a rich collection of prints and other printed matter, we are bound by professional standards to be historically accurate, follow museological standards and criteria, care for our heritage and present it appropriately. While our museum has successfully fulfilled this mission for many decades, it is concurrently and continually also the organiser of a major biennale exhibition, the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, founded in 1955. The Biennale, which in its initial decades primarily showed traditional printmaking, has been – and still is – characterised by ongoing transformation since 2001. Today, it is a showcase of contemporary art of international relevance that opens up new horizons with each new edition. The Biennale presents a particular challenge for our museum because, although it is its organiser, it has to be more flexible and bolder in essence than the Biennale itself.
In this sense, MGLC is a fluid institution that veers between past, present and future. It is an institution that must be agile, responsive and dynamic. It produces exhibitions of "the classics" of Slovenian and foreign (graphic) art with rich exhibition programmes for different generations and at the same time, especially in the context of the Biennale, new, often daring and unconventional works in a variety of contemporary art formats. It is committed to promoting local creativity and, with its print studio – MGLC is also a production centre – offers opportunities for in-depth work in a variety of printmaking techniques. It collaborates with established and emerging artists from around the world, and has worked particularly intensively with artists from outside the influential field of Western art in the recent years.
In applying for a CIMAM award, we wish to emphasise the fluidity that characterises our work and endeavours. The practice we are applying for is therefore located at the intersection of many activities: from collection to production, from research to exhibition, from education to hospitality.
Explain in one sentence why you think the project you nominate is outstanding and could serve as an example for the entire community of modern and contemporary art museums.
MGLC is not only a hybrid, fluid and flexible museum in the heart of a city park, which changes its role with particular sensitivity across a broad spectrum of functions, from a specialised museum to a community arts centre, it is also the longstanding producer of the Biennale of Graphic Arts during which it temporarily extends across the city and boldly transforms the artistic map of Ljubljana, further promoting public accessibility, sustainability within the museum and cultural sector, and increasing visibility of our work within our museum practice as a whole.
Explain why this practice or program is relevant and sustainable in creating meaningful and lasting connections with people, communities, and the museum context with a medium to long-term vision.
The programming of our institution is also extroverted and open to visitors. In the recent years, MGLC has developed into a polyphonic arena in which art is understood as a value created jointly by artists, creators and visitors, where people and communities come first.
We are a place of coexistence, hospitality, residence and exchange in the renovated historic Švicarija (https://mglc.si/en/behind-the-scenes/essays/svicarija/); as "community, art and nature" we spread into Ljubljana's largest park, Tivoli (https://web.archive.org/web/20240519045126/https:/mglc.si/en/events/3/); we connect artists and visitors from around the world through our diverse residency programmes (https://mglc.si/en/mglc-pro/residencies/); and our contemporary exhibitions with accompanying programmes speak to visitors holistically to engage them actively (https://35.bienale.si/en/). An example of such a practice with many rippling and lasting connections is also the exhibition by street artist Invader, which has evolved into a phenomenon, a movement, a game and a lifestyle – accessible to everyone, regardless of status or social standing.