2nd Trienal Poli/Graficá de San Juan

March 2009 Field Guide

Paris: The Jazz Century

New York, Paris and Stockholm: Survey of Surveys

London: Focus on Forsythe

Minneapolis: The Quick and the Dead

Washingon, DC: Guido van der Werve

North Adams, MA: These Days: Elegies for Modern Times

Nuremberg, Germany: Katinka Bock

Ghent, Belgium: Dara Birnbaum

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At a moment when everything is going digital, the 2nd Trienal Poli/Graficá de San Juan — which has its roots in a printmaking biennial founded in the 1970s — will celebrate and promote the myriad artistic uses of good old-fashioned paper. From sculptures made of books to flyers, billboards, wallpaper, postcards, artist books, and art magazines, the Triennial will present a vast and vibrant array of experimental work from artists and designers in Latin America and the Caribbeanthat is sure to affirm the primacy and poetic force of printed matter. On view in a 17th-century fortress later this month, the multiple exhibitions and lateral projects are helmed by Adriano Pedrosa, with curators Julieta González and Jens Hoffmann.

Latin America and the Caribbean aren’t the first regions people think of in terms of graphic design. Should they?

Historically, Latin America has produced some outstanding graphic design, especially from the northern Caribbean — Puerto Rico and Cuba. In looking for artists to include in the Triennial, we wanted to discover which historical traces were left, where we could find radical graphic design in Latin America today, and how design connects to the field of visual art. We will present contemporary work that is frequently influenced by this rich creative legacy of graphic design and printed matter.

How are the Triennial artists drawing from that history?

I am working on a solo project with Mario Ybarra Jr., who investigates the history of graffiti in Los Angeles and how the origins of many tags and signatures are derived from typefaces that were commonly used in late 19th-century Mexico. Mario located the oldest graffiti in LA, which was actually carved into the facades of houses. His installation will consist of a re-creation of one of these incised houses. Another project is by the Mexico City-based artist Dr. Lakra, known mainly for his tattoo work. The source material for his tattoos is derived from Mexican magazines and film posters from the 1950s and ’60s. He will create a large mural from this material.

Are many Triennial artists making use of found printed media?

When we did our research we came across so many artists who made sculptures out of books, worked with them in paintings, and created installations with them that we decided that it would be interesting to bring all these works together. One exhibition is based around artists who use newspapers in their work, and another looks at how artists have used printed money. We were astonished to discover how prevalent each of these practices was.

Rather than one single exhibition, you’ve commissioned "polygraphic platforms" over the past year as part of the Triennial.

Yes, the first two platforms we launched were the experimental magazine Numero Cero and the Triennial poster project. We sensed a lack of contemporary-art magazines in Latin America, and we chose to confront that by publishing our own. We invited six people — writers, curators, and artists — to individually conceive the pilot issue of a new art magazine for Latin America. Then, for the Triennial poster project, each poster presents a completely different take on how to brand the Triennial. They are used less for promotion and instead to present the current state of graphic design in Latin America.

Is it time for the artificial separation between "fine art" and graphic design to fade?

I think that the separation is very natural as graphic design is more of an applied art form — this divide also creates the important tension that produces the works we are showing.

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"Second Trienal Poli/Graficá de San Juan" originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' April 2009 Table of Contents.