Biennials & Triennial

In the words of Brazilian artist Nuno Ramos, the 29th São Paulo Biennial apparently marks the “end of the curatorial narcissism” that characterized recent editions, in particular the past edition, universally known as “The Void.”

The Caribbean Biennial, held since 1992 in the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo, was discontinued. The labeling of the event as a “biennial” had lost its meaning, and it was decided to designate it instead as “First International Triennial of the Caribbean”.

Elit/Tile 2010, the Fourth International Ceramic Tile Triennial, held in collaboration with the Igneri Foundation/Art and Archaeology at the Centro León in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

Almost a year ago, the curatorial team of the 17th Paiz Art Biennial embarked on a process that would eventually confirm the winds of change which had begun to blow in the previous edition, and which materialized in the Guatemalan show that closed recently.

It is a well-known fact that for some time now, biennials have been multiplying themselves; they have proliferated here and there and each new edition appears to justify itself as a platform bound to be involved in the complex perspectives which contemporary art discusses, and which are increasingly distant from the innovations restricted solely to the field of production.

The curators of the Whitney Biennial—the show that everyone loves to hate and hates to love—have a thankless task. Attempting to gauge the tenor of the times in a single exhibition, even if it putatively surveys the art of only a single country, is a quixotic mission.