May 23 – May 31
Plateau in front of the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion
First Illustration Festival – Ilustrofest
May 23 – May 31
Kalemegdan – Plateau in front of the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion
The first illustration festival, Ilustrofest, is a unique festival created with the idea of Belgrade becoming a regional illustration centre and a place for gathering and creative exchange of ideas and projects in the field of visual communications, thus promoting both the Serbian and the world illustrator scene. The Festival was held from May 23 to May 31 in Kalemegdan, at the plateau in front of the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion. It hosted a major international exhibition of the best illustrations (selected in an international competition), a Bazaar of Illustrations where young artists were given the opportunity to exhibit and sell their illustrations and applied illustrations for free, a professional panel for artists as well as a series of free workshops for children on the subject of illustrating children's characters and toys.
The Competition
The Art Competition was organized from April 1 to May 5, 2019. All professional artists from Serbia and abroad had the right to participate. For the purpose of the competition, an expert jury was formed: Jugoslav Vlahović, illustrator and cartoonist, Jana Oršolić, Professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts (FAA), Book Equipment Department, Slavimir Stojanović, graphic designer and Professor at FAA, Dušan Jovović, painter and multimedia artist, and Alina Mara Vujić, curator, Visconti Fine Art Gallery, Ljubljana. Each author could submit a maximum of 10 illustrations according to the rule book and the jury had the right to choose the ones to be presented at the Kalemegdan exhibition at the Festival.
More than 2000 illustrations were submitted from 220 illustrators worldwide: USA, Russia, Australia, Turkey, Iran, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. After reviewing all the artworks thoroughly and the complex selection process (first round – selections of artists, second round – selection of works), an expert jury chose the 80 best artists and 270 works in five festival categories, which were presented to the audience at a major exhibition of the best outdoor artworks in Kalemegdan.