The Sydney pavilion of the Shanghai Biennale 2012 was one of the better places to visit. At first sight, it struck the visitor by the strong ‘op-art’ visual identity created by translucent foils pasted on the windows. The same op-art element was repeated on and in the booklet accompanying the exhibition. The booklet credited a…
I would like to follow up on my previous writings on the Shanghai Biennale 2012 and raumlaborberlin’s presentation in Shanghai in July 2012. One of the new approaches employed by the Biennale was the establishment of ‘city pavilions’. Raumlaborberlin, a German concept-architecture studio, has been in charge of the Berlin city pavilion.
Shanghai Biennale 2012 第九届上海双年展 / Reactivation 重新发电 Curator: Qiu Zhijie 邱志杰 / October 2012 – March 2013 Well, the Shanghai Biennale 2012 has been quite a disaster this year, but I feel that all the complaining has been already done by other parties. I almost feel sorry for Qiu Zhijie, the chief curator… Can he…
Taipei Biennial 2012 台北雙年展2012 / Death and Life of Fiction 想像的死而復生 Curator: Anselm Franke / September 2012 – January 2013 The Taipei Biennial is heavy in meaning. It is almost like entering someone’s brain, or like opening a large encyclopedia of everything. The central topic is history. What is a document and what is fiction? When…
Factory Hall in Karlin, Prague 8, May 14 – July 26 2009 I hesitated to put this review on-line for some time, because it’s so negative. But let’s face reality. It’s time for another Prague Biennale, this year number 4. Once again sponsored by Matonni mineral water and once again it is located in the…
The Third Guangzhou Triennial 2008 was taking place under the tagline “Farewell to Post-colonialism”. Here a short quote of the general concept: “The Triennial attempts to open new frontiers for creativity with a critical review of the role cultural discourses of Post-colonialism and Multi-culturalism has played in contemporary art. While affirming Post-colonialism’s achievements in exposing…
The topic of the Shanghai Biennale 2008 was “Translocalmotion” which should supposedly encompass ideas of urban development and globalization in a mega-city like Shanghai. So the topic was location-specific and social, as the city cannot be imagined without the people who live in it. The resulting exhibition was not very convincing. Three floors of the…