Why every city wants a biennial

Image Credit:Lara Favaretto’s installation at the Liverpool Biennial in 2016. Photograph: Mark McNulty

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 It was like a cultural version of Davos, held in the wintry grandeur of central Oslo. For three days, delegates and guests sat in a conference called Oslo Pilot, holding critical discussions about “relational aesthetics” and the role of public art in society.

But really, last November’s event was all about one question: should the Norwegian capital climb aboard the crowded urban bandwagon and host an art biennial?

Oslo is expecting 30% population growth and two major museum re-launches (the Munch and the National) over the next few years. As one of the curators of Oslo Pilot, Per Gunnar Eeg-Tverbakk, says: “Oslo is already rich in culture, with two sculpture parks in a city of just over 600,000.” In which case, what’s the point of having a biennial?

“There’s been an explosion of biennials, triennials and their ilk, and so many cities now have one,” observes Charles Esche, director of Eindhoven’s Van Abbemuseum and a veteran curator of several biennials (most recently, Jakarta). “There seems to be a new one every week.”

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