In the art world, a “biennial” is a fancy word for a high-powered exhibition that occurs every two years, offering a snapshot of what is happening regionally or internationally.
But the Biennial of the Americas, set to debut in Denver in the summer 2010, is something very different. So different, in fact, that it is not an art exhibition at all, at least not in any conventional sense.
Organized by Denver’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the seven-week, city wide event will bring together top innovators and thinkers from Alaska to Argentina. Its budget, which could reach $10 million, will be funded privately.
The event’s artistic director, Bruce Mau, is thinking big: proposing an event with international scope, touting utopian ideals of “massive change” and “inventing the future” — the kind of notions usually more associated with a world’s fair, such as the milestone Expo 67 in Montreal.
“I think that is a perfectly good way of characterizing it, in the sense that it is that kind of scale and it’s a new moment of optimism,” said Mau, an internationally known design innovator based in Chicago. “1967, in some ways, marked the last moment in the 20th century that we expressed a kind of optimistic agenda.”
At this point, his vision for the biennial, which has sparked the interest, if not the official backing, of organizations such as the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science — is still largely theoretical, with virtually no specifics. Where would it take place, who will take part — and exactly what form it will take?
Instead, Mau is focused on the event’s goals, which he describes with words and phrases echoing those heard in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign: “change,” “new energy” and “commitment to develop the world in a positive way.”
What is clear is that the event, subtitled “In Good We Trust 2010,” will not be like the famous biennials in such places as Venice and São Paulo, which focused on displays of art objects.
“There are already 200 biennials in the world,” Mau said. “We don’t want this to be 201. We want this to be the first of a new era and a new way of thinking about this.”
So he and the Office of Cultural Affairs are working with community representatives, trying to determine conceptually what a biennial in the 21st century should be and then define the specific shape and focus of Denver’s version.
“We don’t yet know exactly how we’re doing that,” he said. “That’s the project. The project isn’t the result. It’s the process by which we will make this happen.”
In rough terms, Mau envisions an event that will focus on seven themes, such as education, technology and the environment, and involve 350 people who are changing the world in some way.
A new definition of artist
Artists are just one of seven types of change-makers Mau wants to invite. The others include entrepreneurs, adventurers and “game-changers.” Indeed, he rarely invokes the word “artists” at all in talking about the biennial.
“They’re all of this, but it’s a new kind of definition of artist in the broadest sense,” he said. “We will challenge the idea of ‘what is the boundary of what an artist does,’ and the whole idea here is to cross those boundaries, to say art and the work of artists is not about an object, but the way we live.”
The biennial is suffused with a distinctive sociopolitical flavor, even agenda, that seems likely to rub certain constituencies the wrong way.
“I don’t think that’s true at all,” Mau said. “What this does is introduce a new political axis that is not about left and right. It’s a 90-degree axis that is about advanced versus retrograde.”
Because of the international visibility and millions in tourist dollars that biennials can generate, many museums and cities worldwide are eager to host them.
Denver added its name to the growing list of organizers in March 2008, when the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs announced the Biennial of the Americas, focusing on North and South America.
Mau, who heads a design studio based in Chicago and Toronto, was named artistic director on Jan. 1. He oversaw “Massive Change,” a traveling exhibition of innovative design that debuted in 2004 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. He also took part in Dialog:City, a series of art events in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention last year.
An “elastic” view of funding
Despite the worsening economy, Denver cultural affairs director Erin Trapp said the biennial will proceed on schedule. She anticipates it being on the same scale as was envisioned a year ago, though she said Mau’s conception allows it to be “elastic” and adjust to economic conditions.
“We talk about it as a $10 million project, but we don’t think we’ll spend $10 million on it directly,” said Trapp. “But we think that, between what we’ll bring to it directly and the investments of our partners, that’s the kind of value we’re looking at.”
The Office of Cultural Affairs has received a $2 million grant from the Boettcher Foundation (announced in March 2008) and additional $750,000 from other sources, and Trapp said it hopes to raise $1.5 million to $2 million more.
Much of the rest of the money will be raised by the institutions and groups taking part in the biennial, ranging from area universities to museums to an array of other organizations involved with culture, ideas and social action.
“The response has been very positive,” Mau said, “and that’s how to do such a thing and maintain its ambition without being limited or constrained by an economic climate.”
For information on the Biennial of the Americas, visit ingoodwetrust .
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
