The Vancouver Biennale has announced its fourth edition, titled re-IMAGE-n. It launches in June, with projects unfolding over the next two years.
Under the artistic direction of Barrie Mowatt and curatorial leadership of Marcello Dantas and Jeffrey Uslip, the biennale invites international artists to respond to current issues, including the migrant crisis, the rise of nationalism and environmental crisis.
Projects in public locations will re-imagine a progressive social framework that supports free speech, ecological awareness and Indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, artistic freedom and other issues.
Ajlan Gharem, "Paradise Has Many Gates," 2015-2018
Mowatt will produce interventions with Jessica Angel (Columbia / United States), Ajlan Gharem (Saudi Arabia), Yoko Ono (United States / Japan), Douglas Coupland (Canada), Inuk Silis Høegh (Greenland), Marc Johnson (Benin / France), Maskull Lasserre (Squamish / Canada), Sahej Rahal (India) and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (Coast Salish / Okanagan).
Dantas will organize site-specific sculptures with Makoto Azuma (Japan), Ibrahim Mahama (Ghana), Patricia Piccinini (Australia) and Ishmael Randall Weeks (Peru), among others.
Alfredo Jaar, "A Logo for America," 1987-2014
Uslip will curate an expansive series of projects under the curatorial aegis “This Is Not America” that will consider cultural, social and political pressures facing individuals, the environment and aesthetics.
The exhibition’s title summons Alfredo Jaar’s seminal 1987 artwork, A Logo For America, to engage dialogue and debate.
Participating artists include Miguel Adrover (Majorca), Geoffrey Farmer (Canada), Anya Gallaccio (Britain), General Idea (Canada), Ken Gonzales-Day (United States), Dan Graham (United States), Jenny Holzer (United States), Alfredo Jaar (Chile), Simone Leigh (United States), Monica Majoli (United States), Daniel Joseph Martinez (United States), Paul Pfeiffer (United States / Philippines), Arcangelo Sassolino (Italy), Clement Siatous (Chagos Islands), Gary Simmons (United States) and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie (Seminole / Muscogee / Dine’).
The biennale will honour Yoko Ono with its 2018 Distinguished Artist Award, coinciding with the reissue of her 2007 biennale installation, Imagine Peace.
An artist-in-residence program will give approximately 30 early-career international artists grants to create public art and interventions throughout Vancouver over the next two years.
The biennale’s film program, CineFest Live, will focus on women filmmakers and Alanis Obomsawin, a longtime Indigenous filmmaker, will receive an award for the advancement of women in film.
Source: Vancouver Biennale