International Events, Biennials and Fairs

Art Cologne - "Today's fair annually invites approximately 200 international galleries to showcase painting, sculpture, photography, prints, multiples, installations, performance and moving image art in the city of Cologne, cultural center of the Rhineland region and beyond."

Scope - New York, Basel, Hamptons, London, Miami, Madrid - "With over 65 art fairs spanning more than a decade, SCOPE is the largest and most global art fair in the world, celebrated as the premier showcase for international emerging contemporary art and multi-disciplinary creative programming. Renowned for its uncanny ability to forecast new visual trends that are embraced globally, SCOPE Art Shows in Miami Beach, Basel, New York, London and the Hamptons have garnered extensive critical acclaim, with sales of over $800 million and attendance of over 1,000,000 visitors . . . . SCOPE taps into the cultural psyche to present only the most pioneering work across multiple creative disciplines." - Programs: TV, Sound, Cinema, Panel Discussions, Silent Auction, Performance

FRIEZE - Publications, Art Fairs, Projects, media

KUNST Art Fairs - Zürich

ZOO Art Fair - "Since 2004 Zoo Art Fair has identified and platformed emerging commercial and non-commercial art organisations including galleries, project spaces, artist collectives, curatorial groups and publications during London's Contemporary Art Week. Zoo Art Fair is a non-profit enterprise, sponsored by established galleries, collectors, arts businesses and public funders as well as commercial brands and businesses."

Affordable Art Fair - New York City. "for new and established collectors to discover and buy paintings, drawings, sculptures, video, photography and limited edition prints from distinguished galleries, all priced from $100 - $5000. This year the Fair will host more than 60 galleries with approximately a quarter of the exhibitors from Europe, Canada and South America."

fiac - Paris 2015, Los Angeles 2016.

Preview Berlin - The aim of the organizers is to present ambitious, young art, still in its early stage, on the international art scene.""

Tate Triennial - Every three years - (2009: "A new modernity is emerging, reconfigured to an age of globalisation understood in its economic, political and cultural aspects: an altermodern culture. Increased communication, travel and migration are affecting the way we live. Our daily lives consist of journeys in a chaotic and teeming universe. Multiculturalism and identity is being overtaken by creolisation: Artists are now starting from a globalised state of culture. This new universalism is based on translations, subtitling and generalised dubbing. Today art explores the bonds that text and image, time and space, weave between themselves. Artists are responding to a new globalised perception. They traverse a cultural landscape saturated with signs and create new pathways between multiple formats of expression and communication. The Tate Triennial 2009 at Tate Britain presents a collective discussion around this premise that postmodernism is coming to an end, and we are experiencing the emergence of a global altermodernity.")

PERFORMA - "A broad range of ideas and sensibilities across disciplines and media."

Fairs, Dealer Exhibitions, Auctions, Museum Exhibitions, Seminars - 'Orientations' - The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art

Carnegie International (Pittsburgh, PA) - Established in 1896. "In art, grappling with such grand ideas as God, free will, immortality, and ethics was stock in trade throughout history. During the past twenty years, however, an abiding interest in the most prosaic aspects of daily life has served as a strategy for making art relevant to a broader, less elite audience. All this being equal, at this moment in the United States, our undeniable taste for the banal does not quash our need for art that is not merely extracted from aspects of the everyday, but rather wholeheartedly participates in it by wrestling with its fundamental mysteries. . . . . " (From the Curator's Introduction, Laura Hoptman - 2004-05) - Carnegie Museum of Art

Whitney Biennial 2014 - Whitney Biennial 2012 - Whitney Biennial 2010 - Whitney Biennial 2008 - Whitney Biennial 2006 - Whitney Museum of American Art's ongoing surveys of contemporary American art. "Motivated by the shifting character of American art, increasingly violated margins between traditional media, and the blurring of conventional distinctions, the present all-media Biennial system was initiated in 1973."

Liverpool - "Building on the critical acclaim of the event in 2002, the third Liverpool Biennial launches on 18 September 2004. In 2002, over 180,000 visits were recorded at the UK's only biennial of contemporary visual art, which hosted 30 visual art exhibitions, involving 300 artists from 36 countries. In 2004, the character and culture of Liverpool will once again be at the heart of the event, underlined by the organisers' insistence on an innovative collaborative process for the commissioning of new artworks for the international exhibition."

FotoFest - "A Platform for Art and Ideas - FotoFest created the first international Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art in the United States. FotoFest is an international non-profit photographic arts and education organization based in Houston, Texas. FotoFest's purpose is to promote the exchange of art and ideas through international programs and the presentation of photographic art. Our programs work globally and locally, bringing together an international vision of art and cross-cultural exchange with a commitment to community involvement and the enrichment of Houston's cultural resources. In addition to its internationally known Biennial, FotoFest sponsors Inter-Biennial programs - exhibitions, international exchange programs, and publications. In grades 3-12, FotoFest operates a year-round classroom education program, Literacy Through Photography, using photography to strengthen writing skills, visual literacy, and cognitive learning."

The Biennial of the African Contemporary Art - Dakar,Senegal. "For a dozen years now, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art has been offering, edition after edition, a space for the presentation and legitimization of contemporary creativity in Africa. An initiative of the Senegalese State, Dak'Art expresses the political will of placing culture at the heart of development strategies in Senegal and brings its contribution to the implementation of the African Union. Dak'Art is a major event for enhancing and promoting current African creativity."

Museum of Contemporary Art of the Art Biennial of Cerveira (Portugal) - "Investing in art, culture and creativity as distinctive elements, Vila Nova de Cerveira has maintained over the years, a healthy and balanced relationship between cultural heritage and contemporary creation. This symbolic capital led to the development of a distinctive signature - the Village of the Arts, which owes its origin to the host country's oldest Art Biennial, the Biennial of Cerveira. Over the past three decades this village of Alto Minho has been a meeting of Portuguese and foreign artists, offering space and exceptional conditions for the event."

Analogous Landscapes - II International Art Biennial-Buenos Aires Museo Nacional de Bellas Arte 2002 - "C5's (Theory as Product) research into the epistemic function of human cooperation continues with a new project that utilizes GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) technology. The proposed artwork takes form as a comparative analysis of Mt. Fuji in Japan and Mt. Shasta in California. Both are active volcanoes selected because of their cultural significance, topographic and visual similarity. (There are many analogous landscapes and the exhibition will include other examples.) The project was initiated at the Second International Art Biennial Buenos Aires in November of 2002 and will be completed in 2004. The first incarnation of the project involves the fabrication of two small sculptural models (25-cm diameter/12-14 cm height) of the topographical features of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Shasta. Each object is produced directly from DEM (Digital Elevation Data) obtained from the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Japanese ASTER satellite topographic mapping projects. A computer controlled milling machine (CNC) is used for fabrication directly from the data source. The objects are in essence, actualized database objects. The installation includes supporting materials that contextualize the objectives and trajectory of the project. In 2004, C5 will enable two teams equipped with satellite telecom and instrumentation integrating GPS tracking and DEM terrain information to climb the mountains in an experiment of multi-site cooperation and navigation. The teams will ascend the mountains while deliberately maintaining identical elevation. To accomplish this task each team will select appropriate navigational paths in concert with the other. Custom software, support instrumentation and endurance gear will be designed to facilitate the objective of simultaneous ascent. The final exhibition will present all artifacts associated with the enterprise including the original Mt. Fuji and Mt Shasta data objects with the navigational paths engraved."

International Cairo Biennial - "Since its inception in 1984, the Cairo Biennale is considered one of the most important cultural events in the Middle East. Conceived and initially designed to explore contemporary art in the Arab world, the concepts of the successive artistic directors expanded the interest to the global international arena. The biennale is produced by the fine arts sector of the Egyptian ministry of culture, and the exhibition is spread over the entirety of all public spaces managed by the sector.The success in sustaining the event had in a direct impact on the contemporary art practices arising from Egypt as well as from the Middle East region in the past two decades."

Manifesta - "The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, was initiated, and is supported, by the International Foundation Manifesta (IMF) with offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The IMF aims to create opportunities for artists to present their work in a non-competitive environment and to facilitate the emergence of new ideas and forms of artistic expression. Manifesta explores the entire mental and geographical territory of Europe and aims to establish a close dialogue between specific cultural and artistic situations and the broader, international context of contemporary art, theory and politics in a changing society. To this end, Manifesta has opted for a nomadic existence, relocating its operational base to a different city or region of Europe every two years (1996 Rotterdam, 1998 Luxembourg, 2000 Ljubljana, 2002 Frankfurt am Main, 2004 Donostia-San Sebastian). Thus, it embodies the notion of a constantly expanding network, based on the transfer of 'know how', as a product of work in progress. The concept of Manifesta is re-examined, each time that the biennial moves on to a new city or region. As an outward expression of this process of renewal, the Board of the IFM and its new partners appoint a fresh team of curators from different parts of Europe, at the start of each new biennium."

Berlin Bennial for Contemporary Art - "The aim of the association is to organise a representative, international exhibition of contemporary art in Berlin every two years and to attract attention to less established younger artists. The exhibition's original and most important institutional partner is the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, which regularly provides the Berlin Biennale with the use its exhibition spaces . . . . The Berlin Biennial has established itself as an open space that experiments, identifies and critically examines the latest trends in the art world. The innovative character of this "art lab," which tries and tests the greenest shoots in the art world is to be expanded, with the particular aim of giving young artists the opportunity to introduce themselves to broad sections of the public. Although the exhibition has an essentially public character, it also has an inner forum in which event organisers, artists, curators, selected critics, cooperation partners, sponsors and promotors committed to the advancement of this association work at shaping the exhibition and its seismographic interpretation of current cultural and social developments."

Art Forum Berlin - "The International Fair for Contemporary Art, Welcomes exhibitors and visitors from around the world into the city each autumn. From video and photography to painting, sculpture and installation, production in every media is represented."

Art Brussels - Contemporary Art Fair - Established in 1968 by the Belgian Association of Contemporary Art Galleries, artbrussels gained an international reputation for its cutting edge profile and the high standard of international galleries presented. Today, 150 established international galleries and young emerging galleries, selected by an international committee, present the best contemporary art has to offer to no fewer than 31.000 collectors, museum directors, critics and art lovers from all over Europe. The lively art scene in Belgium, with numerous internationally renowned contemporary artists and the biggest concentration of contemporary art collectors in Europe makes Brussels the ideal meeting place for professionals and art lovers alike.

International Biennial, Istanbul - "From its first inception the Istanbul Festival has aimed at including in its programmes the finest examples of artistic creativity in all disciplines of art from both Turkey and abroad, as well as seminars, conferences and lectures. The Istanbul Festival was accredited as a member of European Festivals Association. In 27 years, the Festival has hosted world renowned artists & groups from La Scala Philharmonic (Muti), New York Philharmonic (Mehta & Masur) to Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Sawallisch); from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Kremer) to Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Mackerras & Hickox); from Tokyo String Quartet to Hilliard Ensemble; from Aldo Ciccolini to Ivo Pogorelich; from Yehudi Menuhin to Itzhak Perlman; from Julian Lloyd Webber to Mischa Maisky; from Narciso Yepes to Christopher Parkening; from Leyla Gencer to Montserrat Caballé from Bolshoi Ballet to American Ballet Theatre." - In 1992, the Foundation was awarded the "Trophée Internationale des Arts et de la Culture" by Institut International de Promotion et de Prestige of UNESCO.

Documenta, Kassel - "Documenta is one of the most respectable exhibitions of contemporary art, taking place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Since documenta 5 in 1972, each exhibition concept is done by a different curator."

Frieze Art Fair, London - "150 galleries from around the world, the fair will be the focal point of the Autumn for anyone interested in contemporary art . . . Frieze Art Fair is brought to you by the publishers of frieze magazine. . . . "

Moscow World Fine Art Fair - "Founded by Yves Bouvier, Head of the Natural Le Coultre Group and creator of the Art Culture Studio, two years ago, the Moscow World Fine Art Fair is the rendez-vous for the world's leading dealers, the greatest collectors, the keenest professionals and the most passionate neophytes. This year, they will meet at the Manege, a legendary venue steeped in history, to purchase or admire outstanding objects of art."

Biennale d'art contemporain de Lyon - "Given the current proliferation of artists, this 7th Lyon Biennial will stress the layout of the works and the way the viewer perceives them. We want to call on the best there is in art: its impact as statement, its capacity to surprise and its emphasis on safeguarding the uniqueness of the event against a looming failure to differentiate. To achieve this our choice of works has been guided not by their literal truth or accuracy, but by the expressive means they harness: these are open-ended works that instead of simply representing the world, set out to play a part in inventing it." - (2004)

Madrid Abierto - "MADRID ABIERTO is a project within what is generically known as Public Art. In the words of its organizer, Ramon Parramon, its objective is to "stimulate creative work in determined places that relate that which is typical of the place and the time in which the creativity takes place. It is to stimulate and generate work processes which take place over time, to boost immersion in the place itself and to interact in a section of public space that has a bearing on the social environment. Madrid Abierto is a programme based on this premise of influencing the public sphere and uses different public areas of the city of Madrid as its stage, proposing new formats and using existing channels or infrastructures which get the general public involved, both in the process and in the search for other people."

Arco 09 - International contemporary art fair, Madrid - "The work on view covers the historical avant-gardes, classic contemporary and emerging art. Around 250 galleries from over 30 countries will be showing paintings, sculpture, installations, photography, video, new media art, drawings, multiples and editions."
http://www.ifema.es/ferias/arco/default.html

The Sculpture Biennial Münsterland - "Te-flux is a publishing platform and archive, artist project, curatorial platform, and enterprise which was founded in 1998. Its news digest, events, exhibitions, schools, journal, books, and the art projects produced and/or disseminated by e-flux describe strains of critical discourse surrounding contemporary art, culture, and theory internationally. Its monthly publication e-flux journal has produced essays commissioned since 2008 about cultural, political, and structural paradigms that inform contemporary artistic production. . . . . Since it's inception e-flux has maintained a dynamic international program of exhibitions and events."

ART Rotterdam - "The fair to discover young art . . . "

International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Sevilla - "The Monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas in Isla de la Cartuja will host the First International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville (I BIACS) between October 3rd and December 5th, 2004. Under the title La Alegria de Mis Sueños (The Joy of My Dreams), the curator Harald Szeemann, is organizing a wide exhibition emerging from the most alive and trembling current art. Installations, sculptures, paintings, photography, net art and performances will be held at the spaces of La Cartuja turning the city into the world-wide epicenter of contemporary creation during the autumn. I BIACS is promoted and supported by a private organization, the International Biennial Foundation of Contemporary Art of Seville, that will lead the project in this occasion and in the next years. BIACS Foundation is also supported by public institutions and private initiative. Its aim is to provide Sevillians and art lovers a scenery to participate in the debate of the current creation so that Seville returns to its historical role in the iternational art field. In the context of the exhibition in La Cartuja, a full Program of Cultural Activities will take place, where the city and the visitors of the Biennial will be involved under the motto Hospitality and Tolerance."

Artissima - "Artissima is a window onto the most experimental frontier of the visual arts and attracts the interest of art professionals, the general public and the media, with 50.000 visitors and over 1.500 accredited journalists attending the fair in 2014. Artissima's features six major sections: Main Section, which includes the most representative galleries on the international art scene; New Entries, devoted to the most interesting young galleries; Present Future, a section by invitation characterised by solo shows of young international emerging artists; Back to the Future, a presentation of solo exhibitions by artists active in the 60's and 80's and selected by a jury of renown museums directors and curators; and Art Editions, devoted to galleries and other spaces presenting editioned works, prints and multiples by contemporary artists. In 2014 Artissima has launched Per4m, a new section devoted to the presentation of performative works."

Bienal de Valencia -"The Valencia Biennial is a project of the Generalitat Valenciana, organised by the Department for Cultural Promotion and the Artistic Heritage. The conceptual focus of the Biennial is purely contemporary as it aims to dissolve the boundaries between the different art forms, bring the different media together and evolve conceptually towards a fusion which includes all facts of contemporary artistic production. The Biennial aims to be the best vantage point for an overview of all these changes as well as to represent the ideas, projects, works and energy of the most important figures in contemporary creation. In this way, this international gathering held every two years offers itself as a space in which the creative communication between artistic idioms is considered and questioned, as well as its impact on the artistic situation of the present day. The theme chosen for the 1st edition of the Biennial held in 2001 was "The Passions: the human vices and virtues", interpreted by 150 artists from the international cultural panorama. In this second edition (2003) under the heading "The Ideal City", the event brings together five curated exhibitions, a social project, two communication projects and five theatrical events which involve the Ciudad de las Artes Escénicas."

La Biennale di Venezia - "The Venice Biennale is one of the oldest cultural organizations: it was set up in 1893 and two years later organized the first International Art Exhibition; it then became an autonomous body, and today is an interdisciplinary Foundation concerned with architecture, visual arts, cinema, dance, music, and theatre. The Venice Biennale organizes the International Art Exhibition, the International Architecture Exhibition, the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica, and international Festivals of performing arts (Dance, Music, and Theatre). In January 2004, the Biennale Board was renewed . . . . the Biennale intends to reaffirm its uniqueness on the national and international cultural scene, confirming its leadership not only in the event of large exhibitions, but also in creativity of artistic production in all of its sectors throughout the year. The Biennale is thus an innovative organization in the field of research and experimentation. It has a pluralistic and dynamic attitude towards the diverse elements of contemporary culture."

Biennale of Sydney - "The Biennale of Sydney was the first biennale to be established in the Asia-Pacific region and, alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and documenta, is one of the longest running exhibitions of its kind."

The Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia - " The APT project was initiated by the Queensland Art Gallery nearly ten years ago. The event is unique in the world in linking the contemporary art of Asia and the Pacific. The aim of the Triennial is to further cultural understanding and provide a window onto the most exciting contemporary art developments in the region. In the three Triennials held this decade, over 600 art professionals from the region have been directly involved in realising the exhibitions. Audiences for the first two exhibitions in 1993 and 1996 were 60,000 and 120,000 respectively. The total attendance figure for APT3 was 154,025. The Triennial is the largest collaborative art project in Australia and provides an opportunity for dialogue and discussion as well as a platform for artistic experiment. An emphasis within APT3 has been artistic collaborations across cultures, media and art forms as well as the inclusion of new technologies, while allowing continuing focus on art addressing the critical issue of the place of tradition in the rapidly changing societies of the Asia-Pacific region."

Bienal de São Paulo - Brazil - "The Biennial's initial aims are to make contemporary art known in Brazil, push the country's access to the art scene in other metropolises and further establish São Paulo as an international art centre. The biennial serves to bring Brazilian art closer to an international audience, and vice-versa. The international exhibitions are held under the direction of rotating chief curators."

La Biennale de Montréal, Canada - "As we witness a global proliferation of contemporary art biennials we must reconsider their relevance both in terms of more efficient, better targeted timing and location. Such events should meet the information and stimulation needs of a specific environment, whether or not experts are involved internationally. The recent increase in contemporary art magazines, galleries, urban and festive events, teaching institutions and conventions across the planet has made art a topic that is raised and discussed more readily, more frequently."

Toronto International Art Fair, Canada - "Founded in 2000, Art Toronto: Toronto International Art Fair is Canada's only modern and contemporary fine art fair, providing unique access to the Canadian art market. An annual fall event, Art Toronto serves as the galvanizing vehicle for the nation's art world. Considered the country's must-attend event for art collectors and industry professionals, Art Toronto is the place for galleries wishing to attract a new sophisticated market of collectors, and professionals, and the place to network with a diverse and well connected group of fellow participants."

Busan Biennale, South Korea - "The Busan Biennale is an arts festival that integrates three different festivals held in the city: Busan Youth Biennale, Busan Sea Arts Festival and Busan Outdoor Sculpture Symposium and was originally formed as a voluntary culture event. The festival serves as an arena where locals can mingle with people from other countries and communicate with each other."

Gwangju Biennale, South Korea - "(Previous) Theme: Fever Variations. The word 'fever' evokes a certain feeling of passion and enthusiasm, but also gestures towards those cultural tendencies which are in vogue and of the moment. Emphasizing the current phenomenon whereby Asia's new energy for change and dynamic vision expand, spreading and disseminating in all directions, the 6th Gwangju Biennale intends to illuminate and re-interpret international contemporary art from the standpoint of Asia. The title "Fever Variations" reflects the cultural abundance of Asia and its multiple significances in the way they affect the world. Asia is on the move. A fantasy of a New Asia is constructed from the current dynamism of Asia, Asia that refuses to be confined to a fixed identity and that energetically breaches boundaries with verve and flexibility. This is not an othered fantasy fabricated from a Western viewpoint but a subversive fantasy, emerging out of the collective unconscious as its substance and entity cannot be physically articulated."

Bienal de La Habana, Cuba - "The Havana Biennial was established in 1984, long before the worldwide boom of Biennials in the Mid-nineties. Its first edition was focused on artists from Latin America and the Caribbean who live or have their cultural roots there. Since the 2nd Havana Biennial in 1986, the focus was extended to include Africa and Asia, thus becoming the most important meeting place for artists from "non-Western" countries. For this reason, Universes in Universe dedicated particular attention to this event several times. For the 10th Havana Biennial in the year 2009, the organizers have announced a more open concept, which means that the restriction to invite artists from the so-called "Third World" will be officially lifted." (Universes in Universe)

maco | méxico arte contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico - "The most important contemporary art fair in Latin America . . . . This time, the fair plans to get more than 80 national and international galleries together showing the best of today's art in the world. . . . One of the main aims of México arte contemporàneo is to cause in each and everyone of its editions an open forum to new ideas and proposals, a place where to generate a good coexistence between the art people --Curators, critics, artists, collectors, foundation directors, gallerist and public in general --who consider this art fair as a good opportunity to know new tendencies in art and thus, open the door to new possible art collectors.""

Dak'art / La Biennale de l'art africain contemporain, Senegal - "For a dozen years now, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art has been offering, edition after edition, a space for the presentation and legitimization of contemporary creativity in Africa. An initiative of the Senegalese State, Dak'Art expresses the political will of placing culture at the heart of development strategies in Senegal and brings its contribution to the implementation of the African Union. Dak'Art is a major event for enhancing and promoting current African creativity. This sixth edition whose artistic content has been entrusted to professionals from the Art world, will raise with the Encounters and Exchange Colloquium the issue of "Contemporary African Art put to the test of globalization: constraints, advantages and prospects."
ALSO: http://www.au-senegal.com/art_en/biennale.htm

Taipei Biennial, Taiwan - "In order to promote modern and contemporary art, starting in 1984 and until 1991 the Taipei Fine Arts Museum hosted the exhibition projects 'Contemporary Art trends in the R.O.C' and 'An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Sculpture in the Republic of China' on alternate years. In 1992, these two exhibitions were consolidated to form 'The Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Art', which was the precursor to the Taipei Biennial that everyone is familiar with today. . . . The biennial has broadened Taiwan's artistic vision, its professional, exhibition-organisation ability, and its exposure in the international media. The Taipei Biennial has become a primary symbol of Taiwan's contemporary art development and international artistic exchange."

The Armory Show | The International Fair of New Art, New York, USA - "The Armory Show was first presented in February 1999 at the 69th Regiment Armory, the very site of the now legendary Armory Show of 1913 that introduced modern art to America and for which The Armory Show is named . . . . The Armory Show, the International Fair of New Art, is the world's leading art fair devoted exclusively to contemporary art."

Asian Contemporary Art Week, New York, USA - "Asian Contemporary Art Week is an annual, city-wide event focusing attention on the richness and diversity of Asian and Asian American contemporary art in New York through programs such as exhibitions, gallery receptions, lectures, performances and studio visits."