Together we are stronger...

Graphica Creativa has been one of the most significant international art exhibitions in Jyväskylä since 1975. Along with the printmaking workshop, founded more than 30 years ago, Graphica Creativa is also a major contributor to our “printmaking city” and the collection of the Finnish Graphic Artists’ Association that is conserved in Jyväskylä. After the current interlude, a newly selected permanent exhibition of prints from this collection will return to the Holvi premises of the Jyväskylä Art Museum in 2010.

Our intention for the Graphica Creativa exhibition, and according to its name, is to present contemporary, international print related arts, to explore the boundaries of art, to study a variety of phenomena, and to discover new vantage points of printmaking.

The current 12th instalment of the exhibition focuses on printmakers’ collaborative projects, which also gives the event its subtitle, Co-op. More than 120 projects were received in response to our open call, and only twenty were selected for the exhibition. The chosen artists and their collaborative works represent Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Korea, and China.

The exhibition theme provided artists with an opportunity to try something new. As a result, a stonemason, a social historian, an art critic and experts from many other fields have joined forces with visual artists to create a diverse array of works. This has also allowed the arranging organization to exhibit unforeseen commissioned works. There will be interesting combinations of printmaking with installations, photography, video, dance, music, literature, and origami art.

I hope that Graphica Creativa will extend our understanding of printmaking and promote the status and resonance of printmaking in contemporary art.

On behalf of the Jyväskylä Art Museum I would like to thank the Graphica Creativa Society for their prolonged creative and co-operative efforts in arranging the exhibition, and the Finnish Ministry of Education for supporting this work.


Päivimarjut Raippalinna
Museum Director