The last year has been just an amazing time for us here at The Biennial Project!  From Venice to the Whitney to Worcester, we have participated in some of the world’s most celebrated art extravaganzas, and hobnobbed with some pretty special (did we say famous?) folks. There were so many memorable moments! 

     But the highlight of it all would have to be our personal private meeting in February with brand new super good friend Gary Carrion-Muyayari at the Members and VIP’s Only Opening of the 2010 Whitney Biennial.  Gary was understandably busy that day, and was available for photo opps with only the most important of the many important artists and big shots there, so this meeting was such an honor.  Oh, the excitement – all we can say is that this is truly what art is all about!!! 

     But alas, as all that is flesh must fade away, even Really Prestigious Biennial Exhibits must come to an end.  With the closing of Gary’s Biennial last week, we wanted to salute our special friend as The Biennial Project Fan of the Month.  The world may forget you Gary, but we never will.  Gary Carrion-Muyayari, art lover, noted curator, cute 28 year old, Biennial Project Fan, here’s to you!

As our popularity and international presence continues to skyrocket, we must admit that at times, even we forget our humble origins.  As we reflect and continue to be amazed at just HOW about us it really is, we think it is appropriate to revisit that moment in time not so long ago that a star….ok, well, several stars were born.

We are thrilled and honored to have you aboard as we travel back in time to 2008….

Why the Biennial project?

What is this Biennial Project, you may ask? Well, it is nothing more and nothing less than this – a collaborative project by four talented and fun-loving artists to explore the nature and understand the perception of biennial exhibits within the art world, and in so doing to develop a collective body of work that will ultimately be shown in as many biennial exhibits as possible, especially the really cool ones. Towards this end we will investigate the who, what, how and why of getting into a biennial, so as to be better able to develop a suitable body of work.

How, you may ask, did we get started on such a project. Well, the beginning was like this – in the fall of 2007, Biennial Project lead artist Laura Rollins, being the cool globe-trotting artist chick that she is, had just returned from the Venice Biennale, where she had been inundated with Biennial Art – the great, the good, the bad, and the really bad. She, like other members of our really cool artist community before her, had several conflicting reactions to seeing all this stamp-of-approval art in one place. First, that much of the art was inspirational, second, that much of it sucked, and finally, that much of the stuff that we and our really cool artist friends were doing was better. So why weren’t WE there, sipping chianti and chatting up pretty young things at the openings?

To answer this question, we have had to look deeply and honestly into ourselves, and upon so doing, frankly, we like what we see, and feel we have the qualities necessary to achieve major success. We've read a little art history, WE have the sense of ironic detachment mandatory in today’s environment, WE know enough not to inject our work with any real emotion or technique, WE are careful to always include the suitable current buzzwords when describing our work, WE have cool black outfits, WE never make much sense when asked direct questions, and WE suck in the straight world.

So why haven’t WE become the Art Rock Stars we so clearly deserve to be? What is preventing us from fulfilling our dreams, and how can we change it?

That is what we have set out to explore, and we hope you will travel with us on this journey of discovery.

Oh and by the way, our maiden video was selected for inclusion in the prestigious 2008 Baja Biennial……what a beginning!  You will so enjoy it below…

You’ve been following the Biennial Project’s fun-filled international high jinx for months….now comes the payoff!!  Come and join us for our REPORT BACK FROM THE VENICE BIENNALE AND WHITNEY BIENNIAL!

Well, we've been thinking....Now don't get all worried, you'll like this. The Biennial Project is, as you may have noticed, mostly about us. We must make it to the top of the World Art Heap, AND make no mistake about it, we will!  But you, our devoted followers, also desire success.  And we understand that people with the good taste to follow us deserve world-wide recognition as well.  SO... we are inaugurating a new regular blog feature dedicated to helping you too become masters of your art-world fate.  Each month we will search far and wide for the most up-to-the minute info about the coolest biennial exhibits out there.  We will provide links related to submission opportunities, exhibition dates, and interesting biennial reviews, as well as fun sites that delve into the biennialism phenomenon.  Our first entry in that category is a nifty site that we wish we had produced - but it was actually done by the Asian Art Archive - called   All You Wanted To Know About International Art Biennials.   Check out their Did You Know page for great info and trivia on the development of biennialism worldwide.


Feel free to pass this info along to your friends - and encourage them to join The Biennial Project Fan Club/Mailing List on our website - www.biennialproject.com or subscribe to our blog to continue to receive regular updates about the biennial world.  

There, now don't say we never did anything for you!

XOXOXO,

The Biennial Project

 

Upcoming Biennial Openings

Bucharest Biennial

This biennial is curated by perhaps the youngest biennial curator yet: he was born in 1987 (after the fall of the Berlin Wall and also after intern Lorraine was born - truly frightening!). Their website lists their favorite restaurants and hotels, so have a good time in Romania!

Dak'Art Biennial

If you're able to go to Senegal, definitely pop by Dak'Art, the Dakar Biennial. There isn't much information on the website, but perhaps sending an email to the organizers would help in locating where to stay.

Cool Biennial Reviews & Interviews

Series of videos by jameskalm about the 2010 Whitney Biennial - apparently he was removed from the press list for the 2008 Biennial and got busted by security, which gives him an interesting perspective.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS7wn0bJZDM

Cool Biennialism Links

This is a poem about the meaning of "Biennialism/Biennialist" from a very interesting web site that discusses an art project called "Emergency Room". I recommend checking out the rest of the web site, but this is what got us there: http://www.emergencyrooms.org/dictionary/words/biennalist.html

The Biennial Project has the coolest fans in the world! As globe-trotting International Art Rock Stars, we travel the planet meeting the Glitterati. Starting today we will share our best fan photo every month. We thought long and hard (ahem!) about who should be the first Fan Of The Month – and decided to lead with nudity. Rick Dorff – amazing artist, deep thinker, and Biennial Project Fan – here’s to you!

Just back from our wildly successful appearance at the 2010 Whitney Biennial! We had so much fun-

giving lovely Biennial Project Gift Baskets to our friends the curators – Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Muyayari ,

  having photos taken with curator Gary Carrion-Muyayari ,

meeting with various dignitaries,

getting our important word out,

and reviewing the show for the BPP (Biennial Project Press).

Unfortunately, there was some kind of mix-up with the invite list to the exclusive VIP premier party -

and we were denied entry!

Asked to leave!  Asked more firmly to leave!  Escorted out!  Removed from our hiding place in the women's bathroom! Watch the outrage of the art-loving public!

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.....

(check back soon for more fun Whitney footage!)

Given the recent presence of The Biennial Project just about everywhere you turn in the Art World, one might be tempted to think that it really is ALL about us. 

But in addition to showcasing our own ground-breaking work to the world, we have been busy working for the betterment of mankind. 

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the lot of the non-famous many, we recently took our campaign against swine flu and other evil-doing microbes to the masses in San Marcos Square (Venice, Italy). 

Now, you may have wondered if there were activities that were prohibited in San Marcos Square, and we can tell you at this point with certainty that there are at least two.

The first such activity is handing out promotional materials, even those clearly dedicated to the improvement of the human condition. 

The second activity that is “forbidden! forbidden!” (to quote Venice’s finest)  in San Marcos Square is feeding the birds.

This is the case even when such bird feeding efforts arise from the sincerest desire to improve the lot of Our Friend the Pigeon,

and not any crash attempt at publicity or sympathy from the animal lovers of the world. 

But no, the pigeons will not be fed. On this point the Police were clear.

So, rather than risking further discoveries on other activities prohibited in San Marcos Square, off we went to spread our message of good will and hygiene to the denizens of some of Venice’s less highly regulated public squares.

As always, out efforts were well received, especially by Venice’s cognoscenti and glitterati, who know a good world-betterment campaign when they see one.

Afterward, we rested.

For more of our exploits in and around San Marcos Square, check us out on YouTube:

The Biennial Project collaborates with some of our fellow 2009 Venice Biennale artists!

The Biennial Project roars into Venice for their appearance at the 2009 Venice Biennale!!  Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of these international art icons.