While the late twentieth century experienced the phenomenon of “biennialization”, with dozens of Biennials cropping up all over the planet in just a few decades, the early twenty-first century experiences the explosion of art fairs, which now take place in virtually every major city of the world.
Having speculation and the valuation of the object as its central question, which since conceptual art in the 60s was put in check, the omnipresence of the fairs in the opinion of some experts as Mari Carmen Ramírez, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, forced the Biennials to reinvent themselves. In a recent seminar that was part of the San Juan Triennial programming, he pointed out that some Biennials took on a more “museum-oriented” approach in response to this trend.
Indeed, the 30th São Paulo Biennial, organized by Luis Pérez-Oramas, in 2012, approached the expographic and panoramic way to display artists, many of them having dozens of works featured.
However, the most recently organized Biennials developed a new strategy to differ themselves from art fairs: a close relationship with context. The first Biennial to radicalize this concept, at least based on my experience, was the Biennial of Istanbul, 2015, organized by Charles Esche and Vasif Kortun. The event, which gathered 54 artists, was installed throughout four semi-abandoned buildings in the centre of the Turkish capital, rather than in museums institutions. The Biennial also did not attempt to transform these spaces into white-cubbish simulacrums. The windows of these spaces cause the works to compete with the stunning scenery of the city. Its curators defend this proposal in the brochure of the event: “One idea behind this Biennial is to connect a rather abstract relation of art to social and personal changes with the current conditions, which the city goes through a hectic process of transformation, not unlike so many other places on the planet, but here it has its own dynamics. “Ironically, four years later, Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann were responsible for the 12th Istanbul Biennial, which was organized much as most fairs.
Since 1995, however, there were many large exhibits, which did not neglect the context in which they take place. The fairs continue to follow this trend, which makes them good examples, as basically they require, to a certain degree, to a compelling and seductive arrangement to attract buyers.
Among the most recent cases are the 2012 dOCUMENTA of Kassel, which discussed the reconstruction of Germany in the post-war years, in parallel with the destruction of the Middle East; the 13th Istanbul Biennial, in its 2013 edition, which took place on the streets, following massive demonstrations against the construction of a shopping mall in the Taksim park, brought the theme of the event to a conventional space; the 31st 2014 São Paulo Biennial, which addressed aspects of its own history, as the demonstrations against the military coup d’etat in Chile in 1973.
In all the above cases, the curators of the events intended to present works that discussed the context in which they took
place, rather than issues of art. For its extent, this is in fact one of the most important trends in the current days.
However, the 14th edition of the Istanbul Biennial, directed by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev radicalized this experience. Not only the curator approached the surrounding context, but also the context itself eloquently blended with the event, thus achieving an ethical relationship with space. For example, one of the works of the exhibition is exposed in the Hrant Dink Foundation, which is named after the journalist founder of Agos, focused on the Armenian community and who was murdered there in 2007, in front of the press building. Two artists, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri Ayreen present works that address the work of Dink.
Thus, the theme of the Armenian Genocide 100th anniversary in Turkey, one of the important lines of the Biennial, is not just a content in the event, but in fact an experience, as it would be entirely different to see this work in a white cubic space. Visiting the Foundation where Dink worked and was murdered, makes the show much more relevant. Far from the city centre, the visit also requires the visitor to go beyond the tourist itinerary of Istanbul.
A similar experience to that of visiting the house where Trotsky lived on the island of Büyükada, a mandatory stop on the way to see Adrián Villar Rojas works. The building that is now in ruins becomes a metaphor to the utopias of the twentieth century, which crystallizes in the ghosts of animals coming from the sea in Villar-Rojas’s work.
These are just two examples among many others in a very complex show, but they point to a strategy based on the respect for the site’s history, leading to a way of seeing art as a mean to discuss culture, not only its own matters.
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