Contemporary Art Biennials in Europe: The Work of Art in the Complex City

(Paperback)

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Description

Through its examination of five quite different art events in cities across Europe, Contemporary Art Biennials in Europe offers a compelling exploration of how public art takes place in the modern city. Roughly tracing a central horizontal trajectory from the western to the eastern edges of the continent, Nicolas Whybrow considers the Folkestone Triennial in the UK, Sculpture Projects Mnster in Germany, the Venice Biennale in Italy, Belgrades Mikser Festival in Serbia and the Istanbul Biennial in Turkey. Writing within the context of a thirty-year international biennial boom, Whybrow interrogates the extent to which biennial events and their artworks seek to engage with the socio-cultural and political complexity of cities, in particular the work that is involved in this relationship. With its focus on Europe, he also tells a composite story of continental difference at a moment of high tension, centering on issues of migration, political populism and uncertainty around the future form of the European Union.

Reviews

The next instalment of Whybrows innovative and hugely important work on art, performance and the city. He adopts an alternative approach to biennial culture in Europe and seeks to show how the artworks in these events have the possibility of producing a sense of location for the city dwellers who encounter and use them as aesthetic compasses. The book is original, stylish, and innovative. There is a real sense that the author is an expert in this field and he wears his knowledge with elegance and grace. -- Professor Carl Lavery, University of Glasgow, UK

Author Bio

Nicolas Whybrow is Professor of Urban Performance Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. He is the editor of Performing Cities (2014) and the author of Art and the City (I.B. Tauris, 2011).