• Art Home
• What's On
• Features
• 
• 
• Bookmark this site

So you’ve been around the art block. You’ve had your laughs, you know the galleries, you’ve stuck your hand up at an auction, and tucked a couple of Art Fairs under your belt. But lately, those initial gasps of pleasure from seeing a fresh artwork have become more like yawns, and you find yourself looking for something… different. You’ve heard about groups of lascivious art-lovers gathering to do God knows what, but prudishness has previously trumped your curiosity.

Enter the world of Biennials and Triennials, large-scale survey exhibitions of art where audiences shed their commercial tendencies and indulge in the ecstasy of art for art’s sake. Nothing is for sale, so a purer, more natural form of art appreciation, unfettered by price tags or speculation, shines through. Brand-name curators like Hans-Ulrich Obrist (launched into art super-stardom with his work at London’s world-famous Serpentine Gallery) present sweeping thematic visions that help define the artistic landscape for years to come (think Christian Lacroix’s autumn/winter collection), while art lovers freely roam the halls, experimenting with video, installation, and any type of art medium and nationality that strikes their fancy. Moreover, for collectors like you and your Uncle, Bi/Triennials are at the cutting edge of art exhibitions, where diamonds are plucked from coal. Not only is the vision of the super-curator on display, but the opinions of hordes of attending critics, writers, curators, and art dealers are signposts for who will be important to collect in the coming years, and why.

From September through to January, Asia will play host to ten such shows, with the Yokohama Trienniale (Japan, Sep 13-Nov 30) and the Gwangju Biennale (Korea, Sep 5-Nov 9) headlining the season. In Yokohama, Mr Obrist presents Time Crevasse, experiences of confrontation and progress. Supported by Hu Fang (curator of Guangzhou launch pad Vitamin Creative Space), expect to see Chinese Contemporary’s second act here. In Gwangju, much-anticipated conceptual heavyweight Okwui Enwezor will be at the helm, blowing minds with his Annual Report and its Zen-like curatorial theme of “no theme at all”. Closer to home, the Guangzhou Triennial (China, Sep 6-Nov 16) features Hong Kong native Johnson Chang Tsong-zung (Chinese Contemporary tastemaker and legendary founder of Hanart) as the curator of Farewell to Post-Colonialism. His partner-in-crime is none other than Gao Shiming from China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, one of the headiest and most promising young curators in China.

If you want to know what sells, by all means, go to the auctions. But if you want to know what’s important, then Bi/Triennials are the key. Be sure to check out Asia Art Archive’s online project All You Want to Know About International Art Biennials (www.aaa.org.hk). And the next time you’re feeling unsatisfied, take a trip to the other side. You may never go back…

Got a question? Email uncle@thecollectionist.com