Platform for (un)Solicited Research and Advice

Looking at the phenomenon of the mega-exhibition expansion, at present, the biennial debate can be generally divided between sceptical and optimistic points of view.

Optimists share the notion that biennials: create a concept of the city as a global host, have a transient and flexible character, offer an alternative site for artistic production, stimulate artistic discourse and activities, support local and national artists to exhibit abroad, offer urban regeneration potencies and foster civic or national pride, open up the art world, and have a decentralizing effect (West – periphery).

Biennial skepticism, however, exists in the idea that biennials: are little alternative and innovative anymore, are interchangeable, can be regarded as epiphenomena of mass culture and cultural tourism, are symptoms of global capitalism, are sheer products of city marketing, are ready to compromise with political and economical instead of artistic interests, are simply too many and are obsolete.

Take a stand, as an artist vis-à-vis the biennial as exhibition platform. Please define your position and create a proposition accordingly.