Keynote
Keith Whittle
The first in a series of five talks, Keith Whittle gave a keynote on the concept of Bienalisation and related developments in the art world. These developments include the rise of global curatorial discourse, the diminishing boundaries between art and non-art categories, and the increasing prominence of contemporary art from non-Western countries such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This shift has led to a surge in periodic international exhibitions.
Further to this Keynote, following talks covered a broad range of topics that reflected on the complex situation of the biennial and local contexts, and how to deal with this complexity. So as not to reduce reflections to one single model but to explore and study a diversity of voices. The four talks brought together speakers responsible for distinct biennales and fit broadly into three representative models, first, city-wide regenerative philanthropic and or government and institutional enterprises, as is the case with the Liverpool Biennale. Second, flexible event-oriented variety operating on the periphery to disrupt the zones of exclusion entrenched in both contemporary art systems and geopolitics, such Kochi-Biennial and Ghetto Biennale. Finally, the third, socially engaged relational community art projects that take place outside of the museum, gallery and institutional frameworks, led by artists’ collectives or NPO’s embedded in those communities where the projects take place to reinvigorate existing communities.
Each speaker offered unique perspectives and reflections on the specifics of their biennales location and the diverse communities they work with. Background to and challenges they face, working with multiple stakeholders, representation and participation. How they navigate the intersections of the personal and collective history of local communities, foster and support creative practice, inclusiveness and its relationship to lifelong learning. Furthermore, the role of creativity in supporting community space, social contracts, and processes, and the encouragement of civic engagement and pride. Challenging cultural hierarchies and norms while maintaining the benefits of existing practices and building relationships with funders, local businesses, alike.
Leah Gordon, co-founder and curator, Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale, 2009~
Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale artist collective brings together individuals from different localities and diverse communities to Haiti, providing and provoking dynamic interactions, participation and collaboration, and sharing of resources and networks with local distinct communities.
The talk was delivered by Leah Gordon,an artist, curator, writer and co-founder of the biennale, during a session chaired by Keith Whittle. Leah Gordon highlighted not only the ongoing harvesting of ideas, practices, events and processes; workshops, discussions and debates that are at the biennale, resulting in the artist disappearing into the artistry of the collective – the source of the biennales inspiration and authenticity – one of shared networks and socialised community production. But also what happens when first world art rubs up against third world art? And what new practices, processes and relationships emerge from these, and it’s often uncomfortable, entanglements. The predicament of this biennale being that it takes place in a ‘Third World’ country working with minimal resources under the gaze of a more well-to-do art world.
Gordon’s talk also highlighted that not all biennials are equal and the Ghetto Biennale aimed to be a “third space … an event or moment created through the collaboration between artists from radically different backgrounds”. Culturally connecting and synchronising with global centre’s, through an art event that attempts to open up discussion about diversity and probe the universality of assumptions of and around art history, is more testing for many biennials on the so called ‘periphery’.
This and creating and sustaining the collective and the role of interdependence and democratic sharing of tasks therein; research, study, and sustainable programmes. Leah further explored the goal of inclusiveness and the contradictions and challenges such posed, and how subsequent Ghetto Biennales sought to confront them. Also, if the question remains whether or not, by seemingly being separated from the global avant-garde market, local art scenes, artists and audiences from peripheral areas are turned into malleable global others of institutional norms and interpretative patterns through the model of the biennale.
Fram Kitagawa, General Director, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, 2000~
In the past two decades, Japan has seen a flowering of startlingly ambitious contemporary art festivals offering a response to the many crises the country faces today, ecological, social and economic. The groundbreaking Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is at the heart of this creative social movement. One of the largest art festivals in the world held once every three years and located in the vast rural area of Satoyama, Echigo-Tsumari region in Niigata Prefecture. Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale offers an opportunity to reconsider our way of life in the age of globalisation.
The keynote speech was delivered by Fram Kitagawa, the visionary behind the festival, during a session chaired by Keith Whittle. Exploring the festival’s inception, its role in revitalising a depopulated region, and its profound impact on the local community. How the benign neglect of rural communities in Japan, and the absence of help from urban areas have given rural communities no alternative but to develop and solve problems by themselves without relying on aid from the government.
The Echigo-Tsumari Triennale, Kitagawa’s life’s work, is situated in the remote Echigo region of Japan, south of Niigata Prefecture. The name “Tsumari” refers to the area’s remote nature, characterised by heavy snowfall and minimal human presence. The festival’s preparations began in 1996, driven by a desire to reinvigorate this depopulated area and reactivate its inherent potential. The region faces the sea, experiencing dense snow, harsh winds, and heavy rainfall. Once a highly populated prefecture attracting immigrants from various countries, the advent of modernisation led to a decline in population as people migrated to industrial centre’s. However, the festival sought to restore pride in the local people and reconnect them with their natural surroundings.
Somewhat unobserved in international art theory and art history devoted to the aesthetics of a movement variously labelled “socially engaged art”, “relational aesthetics,” “community art”, and “new genre public art”. Kitagawa discussed how at its core Echigo-Tsumari Art Field aims to bring contemporary art to bear on the many social crises that locales and communities face, such as the highly isolated and ageing populations in settlements destined to die out soon with depopulation. He stressed his ecological vision of seeking to put the Japanese public in touch again with its regional roots and a sense of nature lost due to rapid urbanisation. How utilising contemporary art tourism aids regional revitalisation, often working under the most difficult political, demographic and financial conditions. Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is an alternative, community-oriented and sustainable ecological, social and economic model where the sharing of resources, ideas, and knowledge is through human interactions free of the theoretical baggage that attends further discussions about contemporary life is all important.
Shubigi Rao, Curator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2022-23
Shubigi Rao’s talk ( a hybrid event hosted at ATU Letterkenny) on 27th April shed light on her diverse artistic practice and her experiences as the curator of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which took place from December 2022 to April 2023. Shubigi’s work spans various disciplines, including archaeology, neuroscience, libraries, archives, histories, literature, violence, ecology, and natural history. Her diverse interests inform her approach as a curator, emphasising the need for inclusivity and the foregrounding of underrepresented artists and practices. As the biennale’s curator, she navigated the challenges of organising an international art exhibition in Kochi, a city known for its cultural pluralism and lack of existing infrastructure.
Rao gave an overview of the history of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (the first recurrent exhibition of international contemporary art in India). It began as a government initiative when the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala approached two artists – Riyas Komu and Bose Krishnamachari – to help organise an international platform for art in India. To establish itself as a new centre for artistic engagement in India by drawing from the tradition of public action and public engagement in Kerala, the location of Kochi, and its rich tradition of arts. It seeks to balance the interests and independence of artists, art institutions, and the public and to explore ideas of cultural pluralism, globalisation and multiculturalism. As the biennale’s curator, she navigated the challenges of organising an international art exhibition in Kochi, a city known for its cultural pluralism and lack of existing infrastructure. Rao explored and questioned in her talk the loosely self-organised autonomy of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the specificity of the site and its participatory and relational mission. Kochi-Muziris Biennale governing body was well aware that Rao, an artist interested in disrupting the zones of exclusion entrenched in contemporary art, systems and geopolitics, was going to use the opportunity to curate artworks circulating locally and internationally that do not equally belong to contemporary art as a global aggregate of current artistic concepts, practices, and traditions that distinguish between local artistic experimentation and the international art market closely linked to North America and Europe.
Although this broadens participation, and based on her talk, she found the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, an organisational structure and format based on internationalising the local art scene, somewhat ineffective and doing little or nothing to challenge the existing status quo. On the fringes of the recognised art world, its energy is still validated and consumed by the centre, and the relationship between the rim and hub remains in place. What implications does Kochi-Muziris Biennale have for the identity of local artists as a community in the global art world? She hinted at how biennials are culturalist art concepts, with contemporary ones often unpacking globalisation and art history, and that the so-called periphery is still to gain true significance to the centre as an autonomous whole.
Lewis Biggs, founder and Artistic Director, Liverpool Biennale, 2000-2011
The talk delivered by Lewis Biggs, founder and Artistic Director, Liverpool Biennale, 2000-2011 highlighted the background to the biennale, how it was in itself a late-comer on the rushing train of international biennials accelerating in the late 1980s and attempted to learn from the problems of earlier biennials and create a model significant both to the city, its citizens, its art circle, and the international art world. The City of Liverpool has substantially invested in culture and has done so every decade with significant proceedings, starting with the opening of Tate Liverpool in 1988. While part of a series of projects supported by the Central Government, Arts Council England, and regional stakeholders and businesses.
The instigation of the Liverpool Biennial focused on localisation, context-sensitivity and community engagement. A focus led to a strong tradition of site-specific works by international artists. Most biennials have the intention and function to raise the profile of a city or region to an international level. The reinvention of place through the value of art and culture raises an interesting question. What value does art add economically or culturally but also at a community level? The Biennial attracts over 628,000 visitors and the company’s ongoing public realm commissions generate audiences of tens of thousands each year. Liverpool Biennial is a vital element of Britain’s arts offer, driven by partnerships with key organisations and institutions in the city and across the world.
Biggs discussed how his concerns with bringing art to the people of Liverpool had led him to the conclusion. That the museum institution tasked with doing so was itself part of the problem. Before he left Tate Liverpool, we began experimenting with showing art outside the museum in the city. For most people, the history of art and the art itself are not particularly relevant to their everyday lives. Some people make a special place for art in their lives and are happy to go to a museum to find that. But for many people, that is not the case. His considerable work, during his time as chief executive and artistic director of the Liverpool Biennial, and since, is all about bringing art into the public realm. A feature of the Liverpool Biennial is that it has successfully altered external perceptions of the city and its communities, and produced inward investment and made a difference in the economy and local tourism.
A key feature of the Liverpool Biennial is that it has successfully altered external perceptions of the city and its communities, and produced inward investment and made a difference in the economy and local tourism. Furthermore, the non-art-focused social functions of the Liverpool Biennale, particularly in the flow of knowledge between the local, national and international, are part of the biennale’s remit. Cultural exchange and interaction, highlighting the uniqueness of the city’s residents and shared histories. Putting Liverpool not simply on the cultural map, or as a brand in the global economy, but as an embedded part and major contributor to the understanding of the identity of the city and its communities.
Conclusion
In these talks, key insights and challenges are explored and what stands out in all is not only the subject of each biennales methodology and value, but also of its meaning, one not sitting with the producer who actually creates or commissions the project, but rather the entire set of agents engaged in the process of its realisation, and the difficulties such relationships pose. Each provides valuable insights into the challenges of curating an international art exhibition. How all the biennials are complex expressions of a set of values built around social relations and community cohesion. Offering an opportunity to review not just artistic and economic models, but principles such as collectivity, communal resource sharing, and equal allocation and collaboration.
The building of social relationships and questioning of power dynamics and how sustainability is a key factor in each festival’s continuity, with ongoing efforts to secure donations, sponsorship, and funding. How strong local ownership and support from the community is central to each biennale’s success, longevity and significant impact, making them a hub for artistic engagement and discourse. Addressing issues, each biennale generates awareness and prompts critical discussions within the arts community and the wider-public through strong-local engagement, inclusivity, and a commitment to addressing socio-political issues.
Reflecting on his experiences, Kitagawa, for example, offers two essential pieces of advice to Artlink in starting a festival. Firstly, he highlights the importance of bridging the gap between the rural community and contemporary art. By educating and assuring locals of the transformative power of art, the festival can instil a sense of anticipation and excitement. Secondly, the value of introducing something entirely new to the community, creating a unique and motivational experience. By embracing the unfamiliar, artists and locals can be inspired, fostering personal and collective growth. Lewis Biggs talk offers insights into organisational structures, capacity building, advocacy and demographics. How all are key to a festival’s ability to deliver an ongoing sustainable programme.
Shubigi Rao and Leah Gordon’s talks emphasise the need to challenge and dismantle gatekeeping within the art world. They advocate foregrounding the underrepresented, addressing imbalances, and creating visibility for artists, who are often ignored or marginalised. Dissent, contradiction, and different ways of working are celebrated and provide an opportunity to move away from individualistic and competitive approaches. Both sought out collectives and collaboration as a means to foster inclusivity, and combat the nepotistic tendencies of the art world. A testament to the power of collective engagement, fostering change, and promoting inclusivity within the realm of contemporary art. Also, the foregrounding underrepresented artists and challenging the art establishment as a call to action for the global art community.
Through visionary leadership and dedication, each biennale has clearly paved the way for a transformative social movement, fostering collaborations between artists, locals, and volunteers from around the world. Each serving as a reminder that art has the potential to reshape our understanding of place, time, and our role within communities, offering hope, pride, and a path towards a more vibrant and sustainable future. Promoting inclusivity, where tokenism is avoided and genuine effort to recognise the work of others is implemented. These biennale’s impact extends beyond the art world, and helps generate sophistication among the local audience and challenge the notion that contemporary art is only for a select few.
As platforms for social exchange and with an eye to critical regionalism. Each puts forward principles of re-establishing close relationships between contemporary art and real life. The interactive relationship among artists, work and communities being at the very centre of the concerns of such projects. A way of working based on alternative, community-oriented models of sustainability in ecological, social and economic terms, in which resources, ideas or knowledge are shared, as well as social participation. Or the idea of sustainability comprehensively considered and its manifestations in each biennale.
It is clear that each speaker is deeply interested in the creation of new relationships and dialogues, and in the context of these biennial such dialogues between creative practitioners, and communities. Key to such being communication and collaboration bringing diverse stakeholders together; local communities, local government, academic institutions, corporations, and civic groups being a central motivation: the invitees include creative practitioners with the public systematically involved in key and active ways. They play an essential role in stirrings of and informed by the nascent desire for social change amidst economic or social disparity. Opening dialogues with the public, therefore, bridging art and life, urban/rural locations. This prompts a fundamental shift from the relatively “metaphysical” nature of say land art and injects important doses of sociological and cultural, even political issues, and often taking progressive stances. They are then significant developments and offer a valuable model for Artlink.
In short, one may argue that the often unstable and fluid social and economic state of a location, its regions and cultural profile, is met by each biennials collective re-examination of it through art, and culture and community, furthering active discussion that includes fields outside of art history and aesthetics such as sociology, cultural economics, cultural policy, rural and urban planning and legacies that activate forms of social capital, re-connecting communities not only with place, its history, but geography, topology, and its role in the formation of societies.
3.5. IGNITE! Creativity Workshops
- Reports from each of the three practitioners.
- Key findings and insights supporting the future ‘growth’ of Artlink
- Questionnaire (23 responses) – needs a push for wider reach
3.6. Capacity Building Training Programme
To address the capacity-building challenges in hosting and managing a festival in a rural region, we offered online training for local artists and community members. This seven-session program covered topics such as self-organisation, place-based community development, social economy, digital tools, and funding strategies tailored to rural arts organisations.
Our methodology placed an emphasis on the importance of co-creation and shared learning. By collectively engaging in discussions about organisation, agency, and shared responsibility, the training had a dual purpose. On one hand, it informed participants about specific topics, while on the other, it recognized the invaluable contributions of the participants’ experience to the feasibility process and the final recommendations presented in this report.