Feb 5, 2010
GBA
The GLOBAL BIENNIAL ASSOCIATION was started in 2009, by a group of international exhibition makers and art-historians who have been involved in the growing global rise of the art biennial phenomenon. The GBA has it’s main headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, but is active all over the world. We take on a fresh, young and critical approach towards the global art world, creating new, ambitious and successful formats.
Due to the increasing number of biennials appearing over the last decade, many questions arise about the function and context of biennials in general. The Global Biennial Association maps current trends in relation to the connection between artists, biennials and the places which they are held in. Together with the already existing information on the political and economical value of international biennials, we would like to use this information to develop a format for an Ideal Global Biennial that can live up to all dominating international standards and desires.
To gain this information we have created a questionnaire that we will spread among our network of artists. This will help us to create a better image of the current existing ideas about biennials; not only based on the opinion of a group of established artists, but also on that of the next generation of artists.
The outcome of this research will be tested within a pilot-project at Manifesta 8 in Murcia. Artists and locals will be involved in realization of a critical yet profitable format. The GBA sees Manifesta as an example of a recognized biennial, which is not afraid to take on a self-reflective and experimental approach.
On the Manifesta blog for “Unsolicited Research“, we will be posting our progress.
For our first posting we share our questionnaire. If you would like to participate in the creation of the Ideal Global Biennial, please download >> the questionnaire as pdf, and email your results to: global.biennial.association@gmail.com
