Hyperallergic dissected the 2015 Biennial of the Americas in Denver.
Excerpt:
"Biennale" is synonymous with "Venice," practically shorthand for the vaunted Italian art show. But if that
city's annual sinkage and Denver's sprawling ambitions keep hold, the Mile High City might be a hospitable venue for biennials (biennales) to come.
Opening last week with a slew of exhibits, talks, and performances -- from a block party featuring a hipster marching band that serenaded attendees with renditions of
"The Saints"and Stevie Wonder tunes on a
short walk from the
Biennial Pavilion to the nearby Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, to symposiums on
business, youth, and drug legalization -- Denver's third
Biennial of the Americas again finds the city stretching the reach and aspirations of its prior efforts.
It's tempting to draw a connection between the growth of the biennial and the widespread changes of the surrounding city. Look at the Google Earth view of
the biennial's area and you'll find a triangular green space shaped by the intersection of Wewatta and 16th streets -- that same space is for the moment home to the Biennial Pavilion, hosted on the first floor of the yet-to-be-finished
Triangle Building; by contrast, fly into the 20-year-old Denver International Airport and you'll land not over buildings but over
fields of wheat. From touchdown to downtown, signs of Denver's sprawling, rapid development and growth pains are everywhere.
Read the rest
here.
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