2nd BIENNIAL OF QUADRILATERAL   BQ_2
(Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia)

The theme of the 2nd Biennial Quadrilateral was conceived by a curatorial team par excellence. Italian selector Vittorio Urbani, a paediatrician by training, is a founder and creative director of Venetian gallery Nuova Icona, one of the most agile Italian galleries dedicated to contemporary art. Croatian art historian Sabina Salamon is a director of City Gallery Labin that was transformed, through her dedication, into an exhibition space recognizable and appreciated far away from its native Istrian region. Nevenka Šivavec, a curator of Celje Centre for Contemporary Art, has acquired her reputation though a series of exhibitions which returned the audience to the gallery and seduced it into loving contemporary art. And finally, the team's youngest, Hungarian free lance curator Rita Kalman, is a representative of a new generation of internationally educated and imposed East European experts who dynamize local scenes, introducing them to their respective innate international surrounding.

Following the Biennial propositions, the curatorial team met twice and, along with a lively and incessant online debate, forces joined, conceived the event's theme. According to the idea that event's regional definition could and should be overcome by setting up a generally interesting discourse, considering that most intriguing aspects of the contemporary art production are insured by a collision of a creation's social context with creator's personal ethics, the curatorial team met for the second time at a secluded Istrian farmhouse, where it opted for a theme of the culture hero. On behalf of the curatorial team, Sabina Salamon was in charge of announcing the theme in the event's first newsletter, her brilliant essay hinting at all of the theme's potentials:

"The culture hero is neither a vocation, nor a disease, which is a probable reason why nobody never systematically engaged in standardization of that status, although the culture hero existed in ancient native mythologies as an inventor, a revolutionary, a clan founder, sometimes a trickster or a semi-god. We are left with a question – who is the culture hero today? In any case, proclamation of the culture hero is an extremely democratic act, since s/he is chosen by the majority. An individual can have his/her hero which, as a rule, remains anonymous, outside the collective memory. The culture hero is a social category and a cultural phenomena that can be observed at both national and global level. BQ2 has a chance of deepening the theme of culture hero, presuming that social conditions in each of the four neighbouring countries (Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia) generate other and different heroes."

The culture is not for the weak-hearted as proved by the individuals asked to lend their figure and provide testimony for the invitation card, poster and catalogue cover and therefore help to communicate project towards the general public. Mani Gotovac, recently retired theatrologist and theatre manager of many national theatres, together with Mladen Anić, former director of Zagreb ZOO who was removed from his office, both acted as the models. Mio Vesović Mo, the enfant terrible of the Croatian photography was their portraitist. Besides sensing, full-impact and all, how strenuous it was for themselves and those around them to implement their vision, these two individuals also represent an attempt on behalf of MMSU to extend theme's consideration into other cultural spheres. How will their public figure meet being labelled as a culture hero will be demonstrated by the audience' reaction and on our behalf, we thank them for being courageous.

The personal dedication of Sabina Salamon has also brought about a public panel discussion based on an art project by Lara Badurina, titled Work in Progress 2007. The panel discussion was meant to spice the event with an always welcome mixture of life experiences of all the art protagonists whose work secured both their status and insight, authorizing them to address the audience on an essential issue: is there, within the contemporary civilization, a space for cultural heroism and culture heroes?

Biennial Quadrilateral a.k.a. BQ is a response to a diplomatic initiative which, endeavouring to unite resources of all the countries towards regional progress, primarily gathers politicians from Croatia, Italy, Hungary and Slovenia. When BQ press materials presented a map of Quadrilateral, highlighted upon European continent, Rijeka appeared as the Quadrilateral's geographic centre. Therefore, it is not strange Rijeka is also the site of this year's Quadrilateral ministerial meeting. MMSU aspires to use this diplomatic initiative as a base for establishing a permanent and powerful contemporary visual art event and at the same time to continue an extraordinary successful tradition of significant regional art events, conceived and maintained by this institution from its very founding in 1948. Coincidence with the ministerial meeting unexpectedly proved BQ second edition's excellent timing. As to ourselves, meaning curators, artists and organizers, united in a joint enterprise of realizing a quality project, we have won the honour of infusing the wider initiative with an impressive cultural experience, that will definitely install contemporary visual art at its, both obliging and deserved, position within integrative processes.

Branko Franceschi
MMSU director

• Božo Biskupić, Minister of Culture
• Branko Franceschi, MMSU director
• Vittorio Urbani, curator, Italia
• Rita Kálmán, curator, Hungary
• Nevenka Šivavec, curator, Slovenia
• Sabina Salamon, curator, Croatia