Dates of event :
from: 15. 10. 2021
to: 28. 2. 2022
The competitive exhibition of the children´s book illustration originals – BIB 2021 - will take place from 15 October 2021 to 28 February 2022 in the premises of Bratislava Castle. The main organizer of this event is BIBIANA, the international house of art for children. The biennial is held under the auspices of UNESCO and IBBY (The International Board on Books for Young People) with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic. This year´s biennial takes place under the auspices of the President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová.
The main focus at the start was on work of the International Jury consisting of experts in areas of book art representing different countries and cultures. The jury decided about the BIB awards (Grand Prix, 5 Golden Apples, 5 Plaques as well as the Honorary Mentions to Publishers). This year the international jury worked online. It had a demanding task to select the best works from among 2,700 illustrations made to 500 books and sent by 380 illustrators from 42 countries. Along with the main awards there will also be given the non-statutory prizes, namely The Children´s Jury Award together with The Award of the Mayor of the Capital City Bratislava and The Post Bank Award.
The ceremonial opening and prize-giving ceremony of the 28th year of the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) 2021 will take place on 15 October 2021. The international press conference of BIB 2021 will take place in the premises of Bratislava Castle on 15 October 2021, too.
The competition part of BIB and other related exhibitions is presented in the rooms of Bratislava Castle. Along with the main competition show we present the collection of illustrations made by the Grand Prix 2019 winner Hassan Mousavi from Iran as well as works created by Albertine from Switzerland who received Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustrations in 2020. Together with the originals of awarded authors we also present book publications and the text about Jacqueline Woodson from USA, the winner of Hans Christian Andersen Award for literature in 2020. The traditional Slovak illustration art is represented by the work of an important artist Božena Plocháňová.
In the adjacent study-room the visitors can study and enjoy a complete collection of books whose illustrations are displayed at the BIB 2021.
In the West Terrace of Bratislava Castle an accompanying exhibition Three presents the illustrators who received non-statutory awards BIB 2019 at a special exhibition: Svetozár Košický, Slovakia – Children´s Jury Award BIB 2019, Miroslav Cipár, Slovakia – Post Bank Award 2019 for extraordinary contribution to illustration art and Boris Šima, Slovakia – Award of the Mayor of the Capital City Bratislava. The opening included the festive prize-giving ceremony of Ľudmila Podjavorinská Plaque.
The Gallery of Dušan Roll in BIBIANA at Panská Street houses the exhibition Loving Pictures presenting the works created by young illustrators – participants of the last BIB 2019 BIB-UNESCO Workshop of Albin Brunovsky.
Due to the epidemiological situation, neither the International BIB UNESCO workshop by A. Brunovský nor the International Symposium BIB will take place. However, thanks to the submitted contributions, we will publish the Miscellany in the Slovak - English version as in other years which will be available online, too.
During the biennial introductory week The International Conference on Reading was held open to both experts and public. The record of this event will be available online as well.
An important part of the biennial´s event is composed of various workshops, interviews with artists, illustrators and other programs for children.
The author of the art and space solution of BIB 2021 is D&D Studio.
