Florence Biennale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Florence Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition held every two year in the Historical Fortezza da Basso. The jury is the most authoritative in the world.

In 2001 The United Nations recognized the Florence Biennale as an official partner in the program “Dialogue Among Nations”. The artists of the Biennale, despite their differences of language and faith, found a common language in art to communicate their cultural values, illustrating Kofi Annan's statement: "Art opens new doors for learning, understanding, and peace among people and nations".

The Scientific Committee of the Florence Biennale is already working for the next edition 2007, by selecting artists in the following categories: painting, sculpture, graphics, mixed media, installation, photography and digital art. The selection is done without prejudice of style or school. Artists are not selected based on the optics of the national representative but based on the criteria that privileges the quality and the cultural values they represent. Based on opinions from many of the Florence Biennale artists, it is the most democratic Biennale, since it allows the participant artists to choose the artwork to be exhibited, it gives to each artist the same amount of space, it facilitates the encounter and confrontation of artists coming to Florence from all over the world to meet, dialogue and share experiences.

From 1998 to 2005, the director of the Biennale was the eminent art historian and critic John Spike. The next Biennale is to be held in Florence from 1 to 9 in December 2007 in the Fortezza de Basso. Exhibiting artists will include Joy Engelman from Australia, and Polish figurative painter Aleksander Balos who lives in the USA.