Ariadna Mass
Art historian. Head of Culture
at the Barcelona Athenaeum.
Year after year we celebrate the arrival of summer and with it the Mini Print International of Cadaques in the studio gallery Fort, a vital cycle in the cultural agenda of this village which fascinates the artists.
The Mini Print is located on 9 Hort d’en Sanés street, in an idyllic corner within an interior patio inside the former sardine factory that architect Lanfranco Bombelli converted into a creative space full of galleries and artists´ studios. It’s a silent, peaceful place for contemplation that contrasts with the windy tumult in the village during the summer season.
Everything revolves around a large printing press on the ground floor of this two story gallery-workshop. It’s like a totem that gives sense and meaning, that organizes the space and at the same time explains the memory and technical history of the Mini Print. A fascinating story of love and passion for art and creation, of commitment and high sensitivity and values, driven by the Fort family.
Founded by the artist and printmaker Pascual Fort and Mercedes Barberà, the young couple came up with the idea in 1981. Like someone who guards the sacred fire, Mercedes Barberà is the creator and sorceress. Children and grandchildren are the guardians while all – artists, artisans, collectors, friends, family, locals, tourists, passersby – are summoned and attend the meeting to dance around the great axis to the rhythm of the woodcuts, lithographs or screen-prints, from copperplate engraving to digital prints. An artistic and participatory project managed by ADOGI with great efficiency and with a sustainable and human model that never fails and that achieves the impossible every year.
Thus the Mini Print is Creation and Creativity, Beauty and Poetry, Tradition and Vanguard, Conservation, Experimentation, Transformation, Silence, Shout, Liberty, Dream, Permanence, Dynamism, Multiplication, Projection, Connections, Sensitivity, Identity, Internationalism, Persistence, Delivery, Lightness, Heartbeat and Celebration. A whole world in capital letters where many things happen, a meeting and reference place for artists from here and there, where all are welcome.
The call for applications opens in the fall. Artists from around the world, attentive to the present, deliver four prints measuring 10 x 10 cms, created during the same year. The techniques and the languages are free, the common thread, contemporaneity. From figurative to abstract, these works are mirrors of the creative moment on the seven continents.
At the beginning of summer, a jury of last year’s winners chooses the new awards. The works – the winners and the participants – exhibit in the Taller Galeria Fort of Cadaques during the three months of summer and afterwards are projected and exhibited in Wingfield Barns (Wingfield, England) and in the gallery L´Etangd’Art (Bages, France). And thus the Mediterranean seasonal circle and narrative come to an end to begin again with the new summons: like a tide that never ends.
Every year in Cadaques, Wingfield and Bages, we are privileged to enjoy this exemplary exhibition of small format graphic works. An intimate, almost secret camera format, that brings us closer to the breath of the workshop, but at the same time reflects the magnitude of a universal and ultra-local project, alive, vibrant and absolutely necessary.
This year’s 45th edition of the Mini Print International of Cadaques again repeats the cycle with seniority and solidity and once again guarantees its renewal with the participation of more than 650 artists and six new award winners.
Mercedes Barberà Rusiñol
Director of the Mini Print International of Cadaqués
This year the Mini Print International of Cadaques celebrates its 45th anniversary, consolidating itself as one of the benchmark exhibitions in the field of contemporary graphic arts.
Its path, marked by a sustained continuity, has been possible thanks to the constant participation of around 650 artists from all continents. The variety of techniques and the progressive incorporation of new languages, fruit of technological evolution, have clearly enriched the artistic content of the exhibition.
Throughout its history the competition has counted on an average representation of 50 countries uniting faithful artists with newcomers. This intergenerational and intercultural dialogue has offered a privileged panorama of current tendencies in graphic art on a worldwide scale.
Year after year the Taller Galeria Fort has been a meeting and dissemination point of this initiative, receiving visitors from around the world. This year there was an especially large public from the United States and especially from New York State.
In this 45th edition of the Mini Print International of Cadaques we were honored by the presence of Hui-Ju Chang of Taiwan, Riccardo Bucella of Italy, Ana Hellmann Navarra of Catalonia and Keiko Kokei of Japan who acted as jury. Their participation contributed an artistic criterion of great value and reinforced the international connections characteristic of the Mini Print. Their sympathy and friendship left an endearing memory for the organizers as well as the public and the participating artists.
We regret the absence of Barbora Heîmanová of the Czech Republic and Marcin Surzycki of Poland. Although they could not be physically present, their beautiful, expressive works were there, enriching the exhibition, maintaining alive their artistic presence and reinforcing the global dimension of the contest.
The Mini Print International was simultaneously exhibited in Wingfield Barns (England). This event is always enthusiastically awaited thanks to the continued dedication of our friend Ian Chance, who has promoted and consolidated the Mini Print’s presence in the United Kingdom. His involvement has allowed visitors and professional artists to enjoy a complete and memorable experience.
In addition, the Min Print also travels to Bages, near Narbonne (France), where the L’Etangd’Art gallery shows it during the Christmas holidays. This itinerary allows the French public and the European participating artists to know the exhibited works and enjoy an enriching artistic experience as well as generating a great media buzz. The combination of exhibitions in Cadaques, England and France highlights the international dimension of the competition and its recognition in the field of graphic art.
We count on the loyalty of the local press such as the Setmanari de l’Empordà, El Punt Avui, Hora Nova and the Diari de Girona, as well as the specialized magazines Bonart and Revistart whose cooperation is essential. Their constant support has been a key to the dissemination and success of the event, for which we are profoundly grateful.
Finally, we wish to express our complete gratitude to the participating artists: their imagination, skill and excellence is reflected in every piece, full of beauty and harmony. The continuity and prestige of the Mini Print International of Cadaques is due, year after year, to their creative and artistic sensitivity.
Each edition, and this is the 45th, confirms that graphic art is a window open to the imagination and to new forms of expression.
With excitement and hope we look forward to the future participants, continuing the mission of consolidating this event as an international reference point that promotes meeting, creativity and friendship among artists of the whole world.