International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC)

he International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC) was established in 1986 at TivoliMansion in Ljubljana.

The Centre has run the Ljubljana International Biennial of Graphic Art since 1955; from the very beginning this was an important international exhibition covering graphic art from all over the world. The Biennial subsequently became the model for other graphic art biennials in the world, especially in Eastern Europe and surprisingly, Japan.

The Center’s collection consists of extensive museum material (which expands along with the Biennials and through donations by the artists and acquisitions) and new art works produced in print workshops. Ljubljana’s involvement with classic printmaking from around the world since the 1950s has produced a rich collection of prints by international modernist artists – the only public collection of its kind in Slovenia – which consists of more than four thousand items. Along with such international artists as Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Osip Zadkin, Nancy Spero, Dóra Maurer, Malle Leis, Görgy Galántai, Mangelos, Ivan Picelj, and others, the collection includes the complete or partial oeuvres of Slovenia’s finest printmakers, including Lojze Spacal, Vladimir Makuc, Danilo Jejčič, Janez Bernik, and others. Since 2000, the collection has increased its size with approximately four thousand works by international and Slovene creators of original printed ephemera, including art forms such as the artist’s book, art invitations, greeting cards, newspapers, posters, fanzines, and the like. The basis for this part of collection was set with donation of French artist books by artists such as Jean Michel Alberola, Ben, Christian Boltanski, Daniel Buren, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Sophie Calle, Claude Closky, Jean Le Gac, Claude Lévêque, Xavier Veilhan, etc, from French Cultural centre Charles Nodier.

The International Center of Graphic Arts has thus become one of the few institutions in the world, and the only public institution in Slovenia, that systematically collects and catalogues artistic materials of this kind. The Collection of Prints and Original Printed Ephemera is housed in the Study Room, intended for work and research with these materials, and offers a base for contemporary artists and writers to explore references and models in the past for use in their own work.

In addition to the organization of the Ljubljana International Biennial of Graphic Art, the Centre organizes regular art shows, including surveys of national artistic creativity and exhibitions by individual artists, often in collaboration with international institutions such as the British Council Slovenia and the French Cultural Institute Charles Nodier Ljubljana. The Centre also participates in exhibitions abroad, e. g. The Contemporary Poster from Central and Eastern Europe exhibition at the MAK in Vienna, Eye on Europe: Prints, books and multiples, 1960 to now at the MOMA New York.

The Centre organizes various community activities, including workshops in various graphic techniques (linocut, lithography or silkscreen workshop), fine arts workshops for children and adults in front of Tivoli Mansion, a traditional Graphic Art Flea, SOCREA: SOCialising and CREAtivity at Valentine's and a graffiti art workshop.

It also occasionally organizes symposia, lectures and public discussions with invited artists, publishers, curators and experts from abroad and guided visits to accompany exhibitions.