Biennials: Prospect and Perspectives

As part of the theoretical foundations of GLOBALE, the ZKM, in cooperation with the ifa [Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations], has organized a large-scale conference with approx. 40 curators who seismographically record and reflect the process of transformation triggered by globalization.

Worldwide biennials can be seen as mirror of the process of transformation triggered by globalization. The proliferation of the format biennial in the meantime has developed many different discourses and concepts. Against this backdrop the conference will focus on five issues:
The opening section »Biennials and Public Space« discusses the notion of art as public domain and new definitions of publicness. The section »Biennials as Motor for Social Change« attempts to find out which impact biennials can have on the transformation of societies and politics. And upon considering the impacts, which could be seen as successful.

Another panel will be devoted to »The Dynamics of Biennials and the Role of its Actors (Curators, Artists, Organizers, Audiences)«. In the past years the proliferation of biennials has for instance strengthened the visibility of the curator. Which reciprocal effect have biennials had on other protagonists such as the artist or the audience? In the section »Chances and Limitations of Biennials in the Context of Marketing and Policies» we would like to address the question of how biennials deal with the demands of urban development, location marketing and political ambitions. The final panel »Alternatives ⁄⁄ Open Spaces« will lead the discussion to alternative models of biennials, which try to offer new visions for the future of the biennial. The conference forms part of the »Biennials in Dialogue« which ifa has been organizing in collaboration with its partners since 2000. Previous conferences took place at venues in Kassel, Frankfurt am Main, Singapore and Shanghai.
 

Program