We invite you to the opening of the exhibition
Selection of works of the International Printmaking Biennale Čacak
The opening of the exhibition is on Thursday, March 5, 2026, at 7 p.m., Oficirski dom gallery
The collection of graphics from the collection of the International Biennale of Graphics in Čačak represents a dynamically constituted social space where artistic practices, institutional strategies and cultural policies meet. In accordance with Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural production, it can be understood as a place of struggle for symbolic capital, where values are not found, but produced and legitimized through a network of relationships between artists, curators, audiences and organizational structures (Bourdieu, 1993). This collection, therefore, is not just a collection of objects but a materially grounded system of symbolic values that redefines the notion of graphic art as an institutional and aesthetic resource.
The Biennial of Graphic Arts in Čačak, as a self-initiative and independent, project-funded organization, stands for the Collection holder. Even though the project finance may seem unpredictable regarding the activities of this organization, it also encourages its innovation, mobility and international connectivity. Considering the contemporary cultural economy, this model of functioning points to the local context and the tendency of the institutional framework of art to transform from stable, state-supported structures to flexible, networked and temporarily constituted forms. As Howard Becker points out, art is created within “art worlds”, i.e. cooperative systems that enable the production and circulation of works (Becker, 1982). In this respect, the Biennial of Graphic Arts in Čačak is an example of a self-organized art world that, despite limited resources, produces a high level of symbolic significance.
Within the Biennial collection, graphics function as a medium of mediation of both images and relations. They become a platform for the encounter of different cultural experiences, thereby confirming the thesis that contemporary art does not create objects isolated in a field of aesthetic autonomy, but situations of dialogue and exchange – a kind of (inter)space of social interaction within the “interstitial” zones of contemporary society (Bourriaud, 2002).
Namely, this Collection is more than a representative cross-section of contemporary practices; it is an infrastructure of cultural recollection and a laboratory of social relations. As an independent initiative, it questions the limits of institutional power and shows that symbolic capital can be accumulated outside customary hubs. At the same time, its international dimension testifies the involvement in global flows of artistic exchange. In this sense, this Collection acts as an open system – a space of continuous reinterpretation, where each new selection does not diminish its meaning and significance but articulates it anew. The sociological and cultural value of the Collection lies in its actual dynamic, i.e. not only it conserves graphics, but also keeps alive the field in which graphics act as a medium of critical thought and cultural exchange.
Through exhibitions like these, the collection of graphics from the Collection of the International Biennale of Graphics in Čačak continues to function as a living system of artistic knowledge and practice. It constantly and anew initiates a dialogue between tradition and innovation, local and global, artists and audiences, thus confirming the notion that collections are crucial to understanding of cultural and social transformations in the contemporary era.