“Gravura, palavra, imaginário: 500 anos de Ganda” (Printmaking, Word, Imaginery: Ganda´s 500 Years) | International symposium of Printmaking is part of the Goethe Institute’s (Porto Alegre, Brazil) 50 anniversary celebrations. It was timely conceived in parallel with the 500 years anniversary of the woodcut Rhinocerus 1515, the so called ‘Ganda’, print made by the German artist Albrecht Dürer upon the description of a rhino. Dürer left the historiography of science with an artistic image of the animal for diplomatic use, an icon, a model for natural history books, a hybrid myth of artistic imagery and scientific narratives.
The symposium proposed a comprehensive debate on contemporary printmaking making a paralellism with the history of prinnt media and that of the Durero’s woodcut. In this direction, the international event with panelist from Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Germany reflect ‘impressions’ from Art, History, and Sciences, accompanying the iconological and iconographic deambulation of Ganda that passes through our culture.
As an invited presenter, and among this theoretical frame, I presented “About the non-specificity of contemporary print media: from Dürer to Oscar Muñoz”, a paper that analizes Contemporary Art from the perspective of non-specificity and not belonging and printmaking deconstructing the category of “species” in which it has been situated from a long time. Guest panelists included Helena Kanaan (director of the symposium, Art Institute, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil); Elke Anna Werner (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany); Enrique Leal (University of California, Santa CRuz, USA); Francisco Marshal (Art Institute, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) and Samir Assaleh (University of Huelva, Spain), among others.
The project developed from a proposal made by the Centre for Art Printing and Multiple Imaging, Program of Further Studies in Graphic Reproduction Techniques of the Arts Institute from UFRGS, PROREXT, and by the work group Print Art Review Practices, PROPESQ, in a partnership with the GOETHE INSTITUT, where a related exhibition and the seminar was held.
ALICIA CANDIANI 