San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Caribbean

Founded in 2004 in San Juan, Puerto Rico
directed by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and coordinated by its Visual Arts Program

Created in 2004, the Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe, is the official cultural event of the government of Puerto Rico, directed by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and coordinated by its Visual Arts Program. The Trienal is a revision of the long held Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe (1970-2001). The Trienal expands the spectrum of the graphic arts, from traditional engraving to the more ample concept of polygraphic art, which includes all kinds of mediums and artistic languages. The term poligraphic was devised to characterize those innovative forms of expression that incorporate graphic art and printmaking as media inserted within a more expansive artistic framework.

The Trienal is an artistic event of international scope that promotes the experimental practices of contemporary art, with an emphasis on graphic arts and its multiple forms. This event brings the most relevant international contemporary art to Puerto Rico, while it also projects abroad the work of contemporary Puerto Rican artists. Each edition of the Trienal proposes a distinct view on contemporary art and promotes the combination of old and new graphic processes, as well as the use of technology in contemporary art.

Before the foundation of the Triennial in 2004, there weren’t any other events of it’s kind on a continental level. In 2005, the Triennial won the Grand Prize from the XXVI Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, in Slovenia. Also, the innovative concept of the Triennial has contributed to making this event a paradigmatic one for other biennials. The San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Caribbean is the art’s event in which Puerto Rico honors the Latin American, the Caribbean, and the universal.

The mission of the Trienal is to hold in San Juan a contemporary art event that promotes diversity, creativity, excellence, participation and debate, and that it be significant to the local and international artistic communities. It also strives to promote Puerto Rico as a place of cultural tourism. Its vision is to establish Puerto Rico as a dynamic link between the art communities and peoples of the Caribbean and the international community.

Past Editions
24 October 2015 – 27 February 2016 – Displaced Images / Images in Space – The 4th Edition of San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial was curated by Gerardo Mosquera (chief curator) and by curators Alexia Tala and Vanessa Hernández-Garcia

28 April – 28 August 2012 – El Panal / The Hive – The 3rd Edition Of San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial was Curated by Deborah Cullen (chief curator), Antonio Sergio Bessa, Ursula Davila-Villa and Rebeca Noriega Costas

18 April – 30 June 2009 – The 2nd edition of San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial was curated by Adriano Pedrosa (chief curator), Jens Hoffman, Julieta González, and Beatriz Santiago.

4 December 2004 – 6 March 2005 – Trans/Migrations: The Graphic Arts as Contemporary Artistic Practice – The 1st edition of San Juan Polu/Graphic Triennial was curated by Mari Carmen Ramírez (chief curator), Justo Pastor Mellado, Harper Montgomery, José Ignacio Roca, and Margarita Fernández Zavala