Since 1998, the Vancouver Biennale has transformed Vancouver’s public spaces into an open air museum by installing works of art from internationally celebrated contemporary artists, freely accessible to citizens and visitors alike. Unique among biennales worldwide, the Vancouver Biennale celebrates art in public spaces, where people work, live, play and commute. Accessibility, engagement, diversity, interaction and education are the cornerstones of the Biennale.

Our next exhibition promises to be our biggest yet. Tentatively titled OPEN BORDERS/ CROSSROADS VANCOUVER, our 2013-2015 exhibition will celebrate multiculturalism and welcome the world. We hope to strengthen and enrich the cultural fabric of Vancouver by enabling citizens and visitors to engage in discussion and interact with artists from around the world. The Biennale is an opportunity for our city to create an enduring cultural legacy that celebrates the arts and highlight’s our city’s public spaces, multiculturalism and supernatural setting.

OPEN BORDERS/CROSSROADS VANCOUVER will showcase the best and brightest in international contemporary art. You can look forward to experiencing art from a variety of disciplines including sculpture, music, new media, dance and film. The Biennale’s impressive international curatorial team will work closely with each of the partnering communities (at this point Vancouver, Richmond and North Vancouver) in creating ‘live site’ pavilions easily accessible and within walking distance of rapid transit.

While art will begin appearing in sites throughout Metro Vancouver in late-2013, the exhibition will officially unveil in April 2014. A multi-evening event entitled Night Of The Arts will launch the Vancouver Biennale’s Opening Festival, a city-wide celebration of participating international pavilions, artists and galleries. Events, performances and lectures will animate the pavilions, which will remain open until October 2014. The fun doesn’t stop there, however. Additional projects and events will continue to be unveiled until December 2015. These events will run concurrently with our annual Tour de Biennale charity ride and our youth art education program, Big Ideas: Arts In Action.

We’re excited. REALLY excited. Keep your eyes on the Biennale Blog and our social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) over the coming months as this vision unfolds.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/sculptures-extended-stay-and-a-maze-ing-price-reduction-please-biennale-organizers/article2293325/

A friend of ours here at the Vancouver Biennale is working on his MA thesis about public art and the misconceptions around it. It’s always great to get a sense of how much people know (or don’t) about what we’re doing and public art in general.

Please take a moment to respond to nine questions about public art in Vancouver: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QCSX76K

Thanks in advance for your help & support!

I was speaking with an Executive director of another non-profit foundation, who told me that although Yue Minjun’s “A-maze-ing laughter” wasn’t her favourite piece of public art it was, hands down the most successful piece of public art that she had ever seen!

Why do you hang art on your walls at home, or put up pictures of your friends and family? Turning a house into a home is about personalizing your environment or “humanizing our environment,” says Australian Artist Konstantin Dimopoulos. The role public art plays in our cities is the same.

“Public art humanizes an environment, the same way hanging a picture on your wall at home does. It add so much more to our communities and gives others a sense of who we are as a community.” – Konstantin Dimopoulos

As the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale draws to a close, we’ve launched out new, “It’s not the same without sculpture” campaign! We’ve taken to the streets and wrapped up five of your favourite pieces with our custom police style tape to mark the end of our Biennale and let you know that these sculptures that have been a part of our daily lives for the last two years will be de-installed in June 2011.

It’s easy to see these amazing pieces of public art and not question how they came to be and who’s in charge of keeping them there, but this is bound to get you talking. Not happy with the idea of these being de-installed – speak your mind and let your city know, because the next Vancouver Biennale isn’t until 2013!

I remember being in a high school art class where the teacher handed us paints and told us to paint anything that we saw in the room – I painted a chair. It wasn’t until later in college when I started looking outside the room. I remember being in my first Art History course and finally getting a sense of world history through studying what was produced by the artists of that time.

Katherine Tong, our education program manager sees, “art as an entry point to cross-curriculum education.” Teaching students to reflect on the public art that has become a part of their lives and communities over the last couple of years has received a warm welcome.

The Vancouver Biennale is proud to present “BIG IDEAS: Responding to Public Art,” a series of student art exhibitions. Big thanks to West Vancouver, North Vancouver and Vancouver school districts who have worked with us to create these exhibitions. We are so excited to challenge the students, teachers and families of these communities to view the creative responses from senior high students, who have used public art as their access point. Our goal is to idea is to inspire an ongoing dialogue that will continue long after the “BIG IDEAS” exhibit has ended.

We’re also running a very cool, “BIG IDEAS Passport Contest” where we will be giving away an iPad, iPod Shuffle and a pocket video camera! School tour groups can also enter for a grand prize draw of art supplies donated by Opus Framing and Art Supplies (retail value $380).
For more information on our Passport Contest, locations and opening receptions go to http://vancouverbiennale.com/events.php. Or email Katherine at kktong@shaw.ca.