Michael Baers
Davide Balula
Sara Barker
Vanessa Billy
Agnieszka Brzezanska
Simon Dybbroe Moller
Jeff Feld
Anouk Kruithof
Lamarche-Ovize
Jochen Lempert
Justin Lieberman
Cecile Meynier
Sally Osborn
Marlo Pascual
Ruth Root
Jerome Saint-Loubert Bie'
Simone Schardt
Wolf Schmelter
Anna Strand
Hayley Tompkins
Will Yackulic
Claude Cattelain
Jochen Dehn
Chloe Maillet
Louise Herve
Joanna Fiduccia
Chris Sharp
4/9/2009
The Zero Budget Biennial
Due sedi, Paris
34 international and local artists, performances, and a screening program.
Curated by Joanna Fiduccia and Chris Sharp
The Zero Budget Biennial is the biennial to end all biennials as we know them. In an art world beleaguered by both biennials and economic hardship, the Zero Budget Biennial offers a solution, a viable alternative, a way out. This exhibition reverses the usual terms and general impact of biennials. Where biennials often trade in a specific set of political and social themes, from globalism to post-Wall discourse, the Zero Budget Biennial will remain steadfastly un-programmatic. Where most biennials perpetuate a particular genre one might call biennial art in the service of illustrating dominant biennial themes, the Zero Budget Biennial will privilege idiosyncrasy.
Where other biennials promote tourism, boost local economies and generate cultural capital, the Zero Budget Biennial will leave little or no carbon footprint, probably make no one any richer and generate a cultural capital of questionable marketability. Where most biennials bark (change), the Zero Budget Biennial will actually bite. For it intends to breach the closed circuit of biennial discourses, artworks and economies by proposing a new model for these post-budget times. A patently unprofitable show in a commercial space, this biennial blithely blurs the boundaries between the so-called 'sacred' non-commercial domain of the biennial and the 'profane' one of the gallery. To the injury of this unorthodox context can be added the insult of a human-sized, anti-spectacular art, contra biennial conventions. An amalgam of hyperbole and humility, bombast and intimacy, chest-beating outrage and methodical joy, The Zero Budget Biennial seeks to challenge more than a few assumptions, and it will do so with barely a dime.
The Zero Budget Biennial features 34 international and local artists, in addition to a performance program, and a screening program selected by a group of international curators and curatorial collectives. The sole prerequisite for participation is that no artist or curator may have had prior biennial experience. The Biennial will be inaugurated this September at Galerie Carlos Cardenas and Galerie schleicher+lange in Paris and might be coming to a city near you.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Michael Baers, Davide Balula, Sara Barker, Vanessa Billy, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jeff Feld, Anouk Kruithof, Lamarche-Ovize, Jochen Lempert, Justin Lieberman, Cécile Meynier, Sally Osborn, Marlo Pascual, Ruth Root, Jérôme Saint-Loubert Bié, Simone Schardt & Wolf Schmelter, Anna Strand, Hayley Tompkins, and Will Yackulic.
PERFORMANCES BY: Claude Cattelain, Jochen Dehn, and Chloé Maillet & Louise Hervé.
SCREENING PROGRAM INCLUDING: Ben Callaway, selected by Chris Sharp; George & Mike Kuchar, selected by Gianni Jetzer; Christopher Miner, selected by Joanna Fiduccia; Jasper Rigole, selected by FormContent; Martin Soto Climent, selected by Vincent Honoré; Esther Stocker, selected by Simone Menegoi; Margaret Tait, selected by Lindsey Hanlon; Vladimir Tomic, selected by Jacob Fabricius; and Philippe Van Wolputte, selected by Kompl
Opening reception Saturday September 5 at 6 pm
Cardenas Bellanger (Galerie Carlos Cardenas)
43, rue Quincampoix 75004 Paris
galerie schleicher+lange
12, Rue de Picardie 75003 Paris