“74th May Exhibition of Graphics of the Belgrade Circle – Dedicated to Continuity and Courage”

“Dedicated to Continuity and Courage” is the title of the 74th “May Exhibition of Graphics”, which will open on Monday, 18 May 2026, at the Graphic Collective Gallery. On this occasion, the Graphic Collective’s traditional “Great Seal” Award will also be presented.
The question of what graphic art is today and how it should be understood is not a simple one. The blurring of media boundaries, critical re-examination of materials and processes (with emphasis on process and conceptuality), and the reinterpretation of the foundations of graphic art are common
features of major European exhibitions, such as recent editions of the “Graphic Arts Biennial” in Ljubljana or the current project Frontispiece/Precipice in Porto, Portugal, in which our artist Jelena Sredanović is also participating.
Within this broader context of plural approaches, this year’s exhibition at the Graphic Collective presents one possible selection of contemporary graphic art production: 148 works by artists from Serbia, Montenegro, and the Republic of Srpska are shown, with the participation of several artists from abroad. The age range of participants—from 1946 to 2006—speaks of continuity, perseverance, and courage, while the presence of a large number of emerging artists confirms the growing interest in graphic art as a relevant and stimulating field of artistic expression today. The exhibition features
numerous polyptychs as well as non-standard and large-scale works. In addition to traditional prints on paper, artists experiment with various supports and materials, including prints on canvas, silk, foil, wood, and acrylic, as well as embroidery on printmaking paper. The thematic diversity follows contemporary trends and demonstrates vital artistic concepts, ranging from personal and intimate to socially engaged narratives. The continuity of this event (its 74-year history) speaks to the endurance of a unique artistic dialogue, its ability to remain a relevant space of encounter between diverse experiences and poetics across more than seven decades, and a key point in the development of the
domestic printmaking scene. By re-examining the foundations of graphic art through its own identity and reflecting global changes shaping the contemporary field of graphic art, this year’s “May Exhibition” at the Graphic Collective, “Dedicated to Continuity and Courage”, offers one of the possible answers to the question of what graphic art is today and here.
For the “74th May Exhibition” 2026, the jury for the “Great Seal” Award consisted of Milica Bjelanović, printmaker; Milena Marjanović, art historian; and Nikola Velicki, printmaker and chair of the jury. After carefully reviewing the works of 148 artists and narrowing the shortlist of nominees, the jury by majority vote awarded the “Great Seal” Award to Jovanka Mladenović for the installation “Entropy of Landscape – Between Control and Error 01”, an experiment in a combined technique of linocut on acrylic and paper.

Jovanka Mladenović (1979) graduated, completed her master’s, and earned her PhD at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. As a scholarship holder of the French government in 2007/2008, she studied at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her extensive CV reflects persistence and talent: she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, residencies, seminars, and workshops in Belgrade, New York, Washington, Beijing, Paris, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Helsinki, Munich, and other cities. She is the recipient of several awards and scholarships; her works are held in private and
public collections in Serbia and abroad. She is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade. Jovanka Mladenović is an artist of refined perception and cultivated sensibility. In her artistic poetics, graphic art is a living artistic medium whose forms are free and whose essential questions remain open. The awarded work is executed in linocut technique, but the print is not made
directly on paper; instead, an old acrylic layer is applied to the paper and then run through the press, creating an interesting relief onto which the linocut matrix is subsequently printed. Through these overlays and their repetition, the work gains rhythm and dynamism. It is precisely this experimental
approach, precisely controlled by artistic intuition, that distinguished this graphic installation at the “May Exhibition” for the “Great Seal” Award.
Also shortlisted for the “Great Seal” Award was the work of David Mlađović.