Best of the Web: Arts & Humanities » Exhibitions » Biennials

An international event that is dispersed over numerous spaces and landscapes on the seven Canary Islands giving all residents and visitors a platform for sharing ideas on the importance of landscape, and the search for imaginative solutions for a better future, in harmony with the environment.

With its first exhibition opening in September 2007, the biennial aims to function within an international network of large-scale periodic contemporary art events, while providing the framework and the support for a variety of approaches.

Founded in 1951, a cultural event hosted every two years and held at the spacious Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion.

Founded in 2004, the biennial promotes contemporary art with the intention that the exhibitions act as open windows onto the world of free thought, new trends, reinterpretations and new dynamic proposals  in other words, onto the world of contemporary art.

In 2001 The United Nations recognized the Florence Biennale as an official partner in the program "Dialogue Among Nations."

Founded in 2001, the biennial is an exhibition of ceramics created by artists from all over the world in collaboration with local craftsmen in Liguria.

Founded in 2003, the biennial is an ambitious celebration of international photographic practice and is committed to stimulating critical debate on photography in all its forms: new and historic, digital and analogue, still and moving.

Founded in 2005, the biennial promotes the exchange of art and ideas through the staging of contemporary arts and work globally and locally, bringing together an international vision of art and cross-cultural exchange with a commitment to the community involvement and the enrichment of Bucharest's cultural resources.

"The California Biennial is an indispensable exhibition for both the young artists it champions and for audiences interested in discovering bold new talent," said Director Dennis Szakacs.

Founded in 2003, the biennial is entirely focused on video art.

Founded in 2000, the Biennial focuses on presenting the recent advances in contemporary electronic art and also includes a conference section, and a forum for discussion.

Founded in 1999,the Biennale generates and showcases original projects, concepts and ideas in different formats: conferences, screenings, exhibitions, urban interventions, workshops and debates. Staged in a variety of venues, they give rise to alternative visitor itineraries and original ways of exploring the host city.

The first biennial of contemporary art held in an Asian city and founded in 1995, it exhibits a diverse selection of art from around the world.

Internationale Architecture Biennale Rotterdam is an international urban research biennale founded in 2001 on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. It is an international festival of exhibitions, conferences, lectures and other activities devoted to themes in the field of architecture and urbanism.

Founded in 1984 and modeled after La Biennale di Venezia.

Established in 1997, the Biennial is organized by the Centre international d'art contemporain de Montreal (CIAC) presenting a selection of recent and yet unseen works produced by internationally known and emerging artists.

Founded in 1995, the biennial is usually curated by one or two guest curators.

Founded in 2007, the exhibition focuses on current positions in contemporary art by a younger generation of German and international artists who live and work in Germany.

Founded in 2004, the main idea of the biennale is mediation, a dialogue between different cultures of the world, based on the experience and exploration of the culture and art of Central Europe.

Founded and held in Panamas Museum of Contemporary Art since 1992 the Biennial has experienced a process of constant renovation, from its initial stages as a painting competition to its present status as a contemporary art exhibition that includes all artistic media.

In 1997 the Romanian artist Matei Bejenaru founded Periferic in the form of a performance festival. In 2001 it was transformed into an international art biennial by Vector Association, a non-profit cultural and artistic association, which promotes contemporary art in the local context.

Founded in 2008, the biennial has been designed to help reinvigorate New Orleans following the human, civic, and economic devastation left by Katrina in 2005. The long-term primary goal of the biennial exhibition is to redefine the city as a cultural destination, where the visual arts are celebrated and can once again thrive.

Founded in 1993, the biennial presents various attempts in visual arts and film that address the growing social, political and environmental challenges the world is facing due to excessive urban development, pollution, political ambitions, and the thoughtless misuse, abuse and exhaustion of natural resources.

Founded in 1995 the primary mission of the biennial is to give independent curators the freedom to present unique international exhibitions within the context of our museum that incorporate site-specific projects that may otherwise be difficult to execute in larger institutions.

Founded in 1998, the biennial is an exhibition of contemporary art curated by a duo team of Taiwanese and foreign courators.

Founded in 2000, the biennial has continually served as a stage for the historical evolution of new media art.

Founded in Bonn in 1984, Videonale is the organizer of one of the oldest video festivals in the world. Since then the festival has grown steadily, and has developed in this field into a leading institution for current video art. Since 2004, Videonale has been using the premises of the Kunstmuseum Bonn, making a meaningful complement to the video pioneers from the bequest of Ingrid Oppenheim, who as an art collector and patron of the arts laid the ideal foundations of today's VIDEONALE in the late 1970s.