The 14th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art runs from 20 September 2017 to 7 January 2018. Since its creation in 1991, Artistic Director Thierry Raspail has invited guest curators to organise the event around a keyword. 2017 marks the second iteration of a trilogy of biennales focused around the general theme of “modernity”. The 14th Biennale takes its title “Floating world” from the Japanese word ukiyô, which refers to a view of the world as impermanent and continuously renewing itself, a source of freedom and creativity.
The Biennale's Guest Curator Emma Lavigne wanted to moor the Biennale in central Lyon, a city whose identity has been shaped partly by the ubiquity of water. The Biennale will unfurl like a voyage around an archipelago of islands, which by turns are theatre stages or stopovers conducive to slowing down; and which by turns will generate wonder, realisation, contemplation or reflection. Lavigne says:
The works featured in these Floating worlds are underpinned by the awareness that imagination, poetry and art are all instruments that reveal, as well as being antidotes to, the instability of the present time.
As part of the Biennale, the artistic directors invited Guest Curators from 10 biennials from around the world to each present an artist - you can see works from:
Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art [Australia]
Shanghai Biennial [China]
Kochi-Muziris Biennial [India]
Jakarta Biennial [Indonesia]
Eva International [Ireland]
Aichi Triennial [Japan]
More than 50 artists will take part in the 14th Lyon Biennale to illustrate their Floating worlds. The list of participating artists and introduction to the main exhibition.Image: Shimabuku, When Sky was Sea, 2002, courtesy of the artist and Air de Paris
