biennial manifesto

8/12/2019 Biennial Manifesto

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Biennial Manifesto

Author(s): Hans Ulrich ObristSource: Log, No. 20, Curating Architecture (Fall 2010), pp. 45-48Published by: Anyone CorporationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41765367.

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Hans Ulrichbrist Biennial Manifesto

Atwentj-first-centurjiennialmil utilize alculatedncertaintyandconsciousincompletenessoproduce catalystor nvigoratingchange hilstlwajs roducinghe arvestf hequiet ye.- Cedric riceAfor ARCHIPELAGOFor theliteraryritic douardGlissant, iennials an eitherbe ikecontinents,ock olid ndimposing,r ikearchipel-agos,welcomingndsheltering.nGlissantiwords: Theidea of a nonlinear ime is] mplicitnthis dea . . the o-existence fseveral ime ones would of course llow forgreat arietyf differentontact onesas well."The biennialas a reciprocal ontact one can mediate etweenmuseumandcity. ew biennials hould nvent ew exhibitionormats.The currentmultiplicationf biennialsmeans hat atherthancopyingheformatsf other iennials,hechallengestoprovidenewspaces ndnewtemporalities.t isurgent ogenerate situationhat sreceptiveointeresting, orecomplex paces ombininghelarge nd the mall, heoldand thenew, ccelerationnddeceleration,oise nd silence.AccordingoGlissant, iennials odayneedtoprovide ewspaces nd newtemporalitiesn order o achievewhathecallsa mondialita differenceenhancingheglobaldialogue.B for BRIDGEOnegreat otential f thebiennial/triennials as a catalystfor ifferentlayers finputnthe ity. hemultiplicationfthese vents an be seenpositivelynterms f themultiplica-tion f centers. hequestfor he bsolute enter hatdomi-natedmost f the20thcenturyasopened pto a polyphonyofcentersnthe21st. iennials remakingnimportanton-tributiono this.They an also form bridge etween he ocaland theglobal.Bydefinition,bridge as two nds, nd as theartistHuangYongPingrecently ointed ut:"Normallywethink personhouldhaveonly nestandpoint,utwhenyoubecome bridge ouhaveto havetwo."Thisbridgesalwaysdangerous, utforYongPing he dea of thebridge reatesthepossibilityfopening psomethingew.Byresortingothenotion fchance, necangain ccess oenlightenment.45

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C FORCRITICAL MASSOften hebiennialtriggersdynamicnergy ield hat adiatesthroughoutcity. hisworksparticularlyellwhenall the xhibitionspaces nd nstitutionsna city articipatena jointefforto form criticalmass.Biennials nd otherlarge-scalexhibitionsanalsotriggermany elf-organizedide ventsn a city,uch s warehousexhibitions,tudenthows, ndcounter-shows.negreat otential or biennial s thatvery ften t becomes spark rcatalystn the ocal scene.D for DEATH OF THE BIENNIALIn hispaperpresentedt theinaugural onferenceftheYokohama riennalen2007,DanielBirnbaumcompareshe ventual xhaustionf theformat fthebiennialwith hedeath fthenovel.This doesnotmean hat o morebiennials ill takeplace;on the ontrary,e arefacinga situation here here re more han 00 biennials nd triennials orldwide. utBirnbaumwondersfasa form orexperimentationnd nnovationhebiennialwillplay ut tsrole.Hispaper oncludeswithhope: new start s likely o takeplace beyond heEuropean ontinent.E forTONNE-MOIIn a nowlegendary xchange, ergeiDiaghilev hallengedeanCocteau osurprise im.His"Etonnez-moi "willalwaysbeimportantorbiennials. o encourage heunexpected,hecuratorialpositionhouldbeopentosurprise.F for FUTUREBiennials re a continuouslyrticulatedstruggleetweenhepast, hepresent,ndthefuture.This sa vision fhistorynderperennial egotiation. orkinghrough astbiennialgestures,ofcourse,shardly ovel.What, hen, f thefuture f thebiennial?We houldemphasizehatvisions f thefuture cross lmost llphenomenaa) evolve ver ime ndb)proliferate.The future f thebiennials, n otherwords, oth aried ndplural.I for IN-BETWEENThe biennial s an occasion nwhich o createnewalliances; t s aboutgoingbeyond ity-branding trategies,eading o collaborationnd newdialogues.n thecontext f theLyonBiennial, tephanieMoisdon nd aim to create dialoguewith hecitythe"Resonance"programwill nvolvemore han80 events roundLyon)aswell aswith hewiderregion,and toinstigate ewpartnerships.hus "TresBienn" oinsthe stanbul,Athens,ndLyonbiennials odevelopnterculturalexchanges. ew alliances reparticularlymportantt amoment henwe nolonger aveany dentifiableideological, enerational,rstylistic ove-ments,whichonce created nternationalinks.M for MEMORYThesituationfa biennial scomplex.Whenwe try o work ut how to deal with his om-plexity,t simportantotto reduce ur reflectionso onesinglemodel, ut ostudyeveraldifferentnes,bothhistorical ndcontemporary,hich ake n experimentalpproach othiscomplexity.t hismoment f ntensennovation ithin hefield fcontemporaryrta momentduringwhich his ery ield as entered hepublic onsciousnesss arguably everbefore it svital hat iennialsproceedntelligentlynd thatwe actnotonlywith n aware-nessof whatourcontemporariesithin hefield f art reundertaking,ut lso with n46



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understandingfwhathas comebefore nd what sbeing ndertakenndisciplines arallelto our own.N FORNEW GEOGRAPHIESThe Frenchhistorian ernandBraudelexplains hat nthelongueure here an be seismicshifts,ike hat nthe16thcentury hentheparadigmhifted rom heMediterraneano theAtlantic.We reliving hrough periodn which he enter fgravitystransferringo newworlds. he second alf fthe 0thcentury asverymuch time f the Westkunst,"oquotefrom he itle fKasperKnig's ndLaszloGlozer's xhibition. heearly 1stcenturysseeinga polyphonyf centers nd above ll theriseof new centersnChina, ndia, ndtheMiddleEast. Sincethe 90s,biennials avecontributedconsiderablyo thisnewcartographyf art.O FORONGOINGWhathappens etween iennials svery mportant.f a biennial akesplace na city nd thennothing appens or woyearsuntil henextbiennial omesalong,thedangers that t willbe ike fireworkn a desert.Ideally biennial houldbea permanent rocess,n ongoingorganic ctivity. ostbiennials reorganizednshort ime rames nd theoperation ororganizinghem ecomesincreasinglyeduced. urators eedto resist his nd find morereasonable ramework ithinwhich o work.Changing heformat ndcreatingnterimevents o that hefirework ecomes n ongoing lamemight everyhelpfulnovercomingthisproblem. he biennial s a project ouldbuildup throughedimentaryevels, ather hanbeing een s a tabula asathat tarts fresheverywoyears ndnegatestsownhistory.hereshould lsobe more onsiderationfwhathappens etween hebig vents f thebiennial. nmost ases, heopeningwill attract lotofvisitors,utshortlyfterward,t s as iftheoffbutton ad beenpushed.Whatwehopeto see s theongoing lamebeing elayed rom nepartyo thenext, ather han one-timeventnthenameofcultural ourismhat ontributeslittle o the ocal art cene. nstead f a sprint, e optfor helong-distanceunningmodel.Thegoal s for biennial hat s sustainable nd canfosterocaldevelopmentybuildinglong-termaboratoryhatwillaccumulatemportantrchivalmaterials. iennials an havea life f their wnas a self-evolvingntity.R FORRULESOF THE GAMEBiennials hould nvent ew rules f thegame,newpractices,nd newwaysofdoing hings.Myfirsteurekamoment"nterms fcurating as as a teenager hen metFischli& Weissin1985. hey entme to seeAlighiero oettin Rome nd soon afterwardmetChristianBoltanskinParis.These conversationsreedmeupinterms fcurating. started othinkabout xhibitionsnd biennials hatwere unlikeanythinghadthoughtboutbefore.Theytaughtme the mportancefexperimentation,hat herewas notoneprescriptiveayofdoing iennials.They lsotaughtme thatweonly ememberxhibitionshatnvent ew rulesofthegame.A modelfor he nventionf new rules f thegame sOulipo, literaryroupthat unctionsike permanentesearchaboratoryor nnovation.S for SELF-ORGANIZATIONIn large-scalehows,we should xploredeas ofself-organizationhat eject he"top-downmaster lan."A modelfor hisapproach an be foundnurbanismspracticed yYonaFriedman, edric rice, eamX,orOskarHansenwithhisvisionary openform." llof47



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themquestionedhe dea ofthe masterplan" nthe50s nd tried o buildnmoments f elf-organizationnd even"bottom-up" rganization. pplied o thebiennial, hismightmean,forexample, xhibitions ithin he xhibitionshat retemporaryutonomousones.T FORTRANSNATIONALThequestion f transnationalxhibitionseems obeoneof thekey ssuesrunning romhe'90s throughothepresent.n opposingwhathe calledthe irreversible"aspects fglobal-ization uniformity,omogeneityEtienne alibar ncedescribed o me theneedfor rtistsand exhibitionsobecomenomadic, hysicallyndmentallyravelingcrossborders. edescribed owgoingbeyond ational oundaries ould allowlanguagesnd cultures ospillout nalldirections,o broaden hehorizon ftranslatingapacities.n thisway,Balibar aid,"Exhibitions ould be borderlineshemselves."U FORUNBUILTROADSForevery lannedbiennial hat s carried ut,hundreds f otherprojectsround heworldremain nrealized nd nvisible o thepublic.Unlike nrealized rchitectural odels ndprojectsubmitted orcompetitions,hich refrequentlyublishednddiscussed, ublicendeavorsn thevisual rts hat replanned utnotcarried utordinarilyemain nnoticedor ittle nown. see these nrealizedprojectss themostimportantnreportedtoriesntheartworld.As thephilosopher enriBergsonhowed, ealization sonly nepossibilityhatis surroundedbymany thers. here remany mazing nrealizedprojectsut there:forgot-tenprojects,misunderstoodprojects,ostprojects,esk-drawerprojects, oeticUtopian reamprojects,nrealizableprojects, artiallyealizedprojects,ensoredprojects,ndso on. t seemsurgento rememberhese oads nan active nddynamic,nnostalgic ay, ransformingomeof themntopropositionsrpossibilitiesor hefuture.W for WAYS EYOND THE BIENNIALWecan earnfromAlexander orner'svisionary ook TheWay eyondAr TheWorkfHerbertayerhatbiennials fthe21stcenturyhould: be na state fpermanentransformation oscillate etween bject ndprocess becapable fmultipledentities bean active nd fearlesspioneer promote relativenotabsolute) ruth be basedona dynamic oncept f arthistory be "elastic" flexibledisplays ithin nadaptable uilding buildbridges etweenrtists nd a varietyf scientificdisciplines:Wecannot nderstandtheforces hich re effectiventhevisualproductionftodayfwe don't xamine therfields f ife."Allquotationsre rom ans Ulrich brissnterviewsroject, hichodate ncludes,000hoursof ilmedndtranscribedonversations.hispiecewas irstublishedn FlashArt, ebruary009

HansUlrich bristscodirectorf xhibitionsndprogramsnddirectorf nternationalrojectstthe erpentineallery,ondon,nd ormeruratort theMusee 'ArtModernee a VilledeParis.47


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