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Over
200 artists from around the world are joining to create the first Free
Biennial which will take place in New York during the month of April,
2002 (April 2-30).
The Free Biennial is an open exhibition of nonmonetary (free) artwork
which will take place throughout the public space of greater New York,
as well as on the internet, by broadcast, mail and telephone.
Artworks, many created especially for the Free Biennial, will include
public installations, performances, interactions & interventions,
broadcasts, giveaways, studio & apartment shows, flash movies, downloads,
net art, video screenings and listening salons. Artists are participating
from New York, across the United States, and from countries around the
world including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada,
France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and
the United Kingdom.
Functioning
both as an exhibition, and as a situational artwork, The Free Biennial
is a project of artist Sal Randolph who says: “It’s an experiment
in presenting a show which is completely democratic and unedited. There’s
always an element of the unpredictable when you open the doors.”
In an increasingly crowded field of international art expositions, the
Free Biennial offers a new artistic situation, both for the viewer and
the participating artist. For the artist, the Free Biennial eliminates
the selection process – the curator as gatekeeper or filter. It puts
the question of participation in the hands of the artist, and throws open
the question of value.
For the viewer, the safety of traditional curatorship and spectacle is
removed, allowing an experience which is more direct, raw, and intimate.
The city is transformed into a place of potential where any encounter
could be an artistic one. Armed with a map and the idea that art might
be anywhere, the viewer is invited to step into the shoes of what Baudelaire
and the Situationists called the flâneur, the wanderer, ready to
experience anything.
“It’s a new way of looking at public space,” says organizer
Sal Randolph. “We’ve gotten used to seeing public space as either
institutional or commercial. Here is a way for artists and viewers to
operate together as as citizens, engaged with the life of the city. It
holds out possibility for the values of generosity and civility, which
we are so in need of at this time.”
“There’s plenty of free artwork out there,” Randolph adds,
“but there’s very little context in which to show it. It’s
one of the hidden art movements of our time. This show aims to provide
a context which will make the underground gift economy of art more visible.”
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