Illustration is one of the most elemental, and consequently fundamental, tasks of visual expression as a rational communication activity. The interpretation, revelation, clarification and concretisation of various texts, abstract concepts and ideas proceeds as a translation and interpretation of them in consistent visual idioms that are defined in terms of technique as drawing, graphic art, collage, animation and various techniques and tools of the digital age. But in illustration, much more important than the choice of technique and tools is the visual idiom as an arranged microsystem, which on the one hand reflects the need for the most appropriate method of aligning the message closely with its initial idea, and on the other hand represents a complete and self-contained whole. This is a parallel world, where it is not just that it transmits a message, but that it significantly enhances it.
Illustration consequently functions in a relationship with the widest selection of phenomena of reality, as evidenced in the exhibition As Many Worlds as There Are Illustrations (Kolikor ilustracij, toliko svetov), which stretches it out between two apparently diametrically opposed fields, imaginary and scientific illustration. While the first is a visual creation for depicting fantastical worlds, the second visualises the precise relations of science (or at least their tendency towards objectivity). Both fairy-tales and science in a similar way call for illustration as an element that is essential in presenting their internal systems. It is this that brings together imaginary and scientific illustration in the exhibition As Many Worlds as There Are Illustrations, and shows how the two complement each other. Science is a system whose progress is tied to experimentation, an embarking into the fantastic, while at first glance the dreamed-up worlds of fairy-tales have a surprisingly firm internal logic. A delving into the imagination is an essential condition for science, while an observance of structure is the foundation of the fairy-tale. Illustration is that rich idiom of images that reveals these tacit assumptions, while putting the thought that stands behind it into motion.
Artists: Eliza Atanasovska, Trina Cucek Meršol, Bibi Erjavec, Peter Ferlan, Klara Jager, Eva Rauch, Neža Šivec, Ana Vičič
Mentors: Asst. Prof. Mag. Marija Nabernik, Asst. Prof. Suzana Bricelj
MGBS Curator: Vladimir Vidmar
Production: Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana; Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana
