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Which are the World's
Top Art Festivals?
Since many different interested parties
are involved in festivals - including: curators, gallery owners, artists,
critics, art collectors and of course
ordinary art-loving visitors - it is difficult to produce a list of festivals
that everyone agrees is the "best". With this caveat, here is
an A-Z list of some of the most exciting art fairs and festivals around
the globe.
A-Z of the Best Arts
Festivals
ARCO (Madrid)
Set up in 1982, ARCO Madrid is one of Europe's most popular art fairs,
with almost 200 international art galleries represented. Also features
lectures, workshops as well as a series of specific exhibitions. See also:
Prado Museum.
Armory Show (New
York)
Named after the landmark Armory
Show of 1913, this particular New York event was established in 2000,
and is now billed as America's foremost fine art fair focusing on works
from the 20th and 21st centuries, with galleries, artists, critics, collectors,
and curators from all over the world in attendance during Armory Arts
Week.
Ars Electronica
(Linz)
Founded in 1979, Ars Electronica is an Austrian arts organization which
runs its own digital art festival, in Linz. Originally part of the International
Bruckner Festival, it became an independent annual event in 1986, and
the Prix Ars Electronica remains one of the most prestigious awards
in the area of digital artworks, computer art,
cyberarts innovations and other contemporary
art movements involving electronic media. The festival program, which
attracts some 35,000 visitors, typically includes exhibitions, performances,
symposia, and concerts. Along with the Japan Media Arts Festival, Ars
Electronica is one of the few events dedicated to electronic media.
Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by a group of local art gallery owners, this annual 5-day
festival in June, held in the charming city of Basel, in Switzerland,
is now the world's largest contemporary art fair. Similar to the Venice
Biennale, it attracts about 60,000 visitors each year. The show plays
host to some 300 of the top art galleries from Europe, the United States,
Canada, Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is usually divided into specialist
sections featuring such things as public art, new works, video
art, performances, installation art
and exhibitions.
Art Basel Miami
Beach
An American spin-off which takes place in early December, Art Basel Miami
Beach is an annual contemporary art exhibition which began in 2002, as
a city-wide event. Taking into account its range of exhibitions, participating
galleries and other features, including performance
art, organizers claim that it has now outstripped the parent fair
in Basel in size, though not in numbers of visitors. Features top contemporary
artists like Christopher
Wool (b.1955) and others.
Berlin Biennale
This Biennale takes place April-July in one of the largest and most exciting
communities of contemporary artists in Europe. Set up in the style of
the Venice Biennale's Aperto exhibition, the Berlin Biennale was
founded in 1998 as a champion of cutting-edge postmodernism and to capitalize
on the city's importance as a centre of avant-garde culture: a city famous
for launching such movements as Dada
and Fluxus. See also: Guggenheim
Berlin.
Art Dubai
Since its formation in 2006, Art Dubai has been the leading contemporary
art fair in the Gulf and is now an essential meeting point for collectors,
artists, curators and other art experts from across the Middle East, North
Africa, and beyond. Art Dubai's Global Art Forum, involving leading arts
professionals from the region is devoted to the promotion and dissemination
of all arts and cultural works from the Middle East and North Africa,
including Islamic art as well as secular
works. See also: Museums of
Islamic Art and Culture.
Bodypainting
Festival (Austria)
The World Body Painting Festival takes
place each year in Austria, and attracts artists and tattooists from all
over the globe. During the period 1998 to 2010 it was held in Seeboden,
Carinthia, close to the Millstatter See, in late July. Since then, it
has been staged at Portschach at lake Worthersee. The festival program
includes performances, workshops, live demonstrations of face
painting and exhibitions of folk
art techniques as well as numerous demonstrations.
Dak'Art Biennial
(Dakar)
This biennial festival began in 1992 and is devoted exclusively to contemporary
African art, including African
sculpture as well as postmodernist forms, although it also includes
exhibitions of more traditional tribal
art. It takes place in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Documenta
Held every five years in Kassel, Germany, Documenta is a major event in
the world's art calendar, and compares - in both prestige and importance
- with the top Biennales. An exhibition of contemporary art which attracts
the world's top contemporary
artists - including offbeat artists like Keith
Haring (1958-90) - and which lasts for 100 days (hence its nickname
"the museum of 100 days"), it was set up in 1955 by artist and
curator Arnold Bode as part of the Federal Horticultural Show, held in
Kassel, in order to update the country's contribution to modern art, in
the aftermath of "degenerate
art" and other cultural disasters perpetrated by the Nazis. In
fact, this first show focused on banned prewar art movements, such as
German Expressionism
(Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter, Die Neue Sachlichkeit),
Fauvism (Henri Matisse and others),
Cubism (Picasso, Braque), Futurism
(Carra, Balla, Severini,Boccioni), and Metaphysical
Painting (Giorgio de Chirico). Documenta is not a sales show and typically
coincides with three other big events: Art Basel, Skulptur Projekte
Munster and the Venice Biennale. It attracts up to 750,000
visitors.
Edinburgh International
Festival
An umbrella title for many arts and cultural festivals held in Scotland,
each August, which together form the largest yearly cultural festival
in the world. It includes the Edinburgh Art Festival, the country's largest
visual arts festival, whose program typically includes a diverse selection
of exhibitions and events which take place throughout the city. See also:
National Gallery of
Scotland.
Florence Biennale
Begun in 1997 by Art Studio, run by Brothers Pasquale and Piero Celona,
Florence Biennale is contemporary art fair held in the Fortezza da Basso
in Florence, Italy. The exhibition features over 800 participating artists
from over 70 different countries and attracts some 17,000 visitors.
Frieze Art Fair
(London)
Founded in 2003 and held every October in Regent's Park, Frieze plays
host to more than 170 of the most dynamic galleries of contemporary art.
Owners Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover also publish Frieze an international
magazine devoted to postmodernist art. See also: Turner
Prize.
Galway Arts Festival
Ireland's most important arts festival, attracting some 150,000 visitors
annually, it takes place each July in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland.
Its visual art content includes works of painting, caricature
art, mime, assemblage, performance and plastic art. See: Contemporary
Irish Artists.
Harbin International
Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
Established in 1963, this winter sculpture event takes place during the
month of January in the city of Harbin in windswept Northeast China. Participating
ice sculptors employ a variety of techniques, from lasers to ice lanterns.
Exhibits include full size buildings made from blocks of ice taken from
the nearby Songhua River.
India Art Fair (New
Delhi)
Founded quite recently in 2008, the India Art Fair (formerly the India
Art Summit) is held in New Delhi in January. Devoted to the art
of India, it focuses mainly on contemporary forms, but includes other
exhibits, including aspects of India's rich heritage of ancient
art. See, for instance, the Petroglyphs
of Bhimbetka found at Auditorium Cave, Bhimbetka and at Daraki-Chattan
Cave, in Madhya Pradesh.
Istanbul Biennale
Active since 1987, the Istanbul Biennale in Turkey is held from September
to November in every odd-numbered year. Heir to the traditions of Byzantine
art, this showcase of contemporary art from both Europe and Asia is
one of the most prestigious art events in the region.
Japan Media Arts
Festival
Founded in 1997, this festival takes place each February at the National
Art Centre in Tokyo, under the auspices of the Japanese Agency for Cultural
Affairs. The fair is famous for its prizes - Japan Media Arts Awards -
which are awarded for achievements in four categories: Art (Non-Interactive
Digital Art), Entertainment (Interactive Art, such as video games), Animation
art, and Manga. See also: Japanese
Art.
Quebec Winter Festival
(Carnaval de Quebec)
Started initially way back in 1894, but held annually since 1955, the
festival runs for the first three weeks or so of February, and features
ice sculpture as well as the usual range of winter activities, including
the traditional bikini snow bath event.
Sandfest (Texas)
Every April, Port Arkansas in Texas plays host to one of the strangest
events in the calendar of American art: the Sandfest competition for sand
sculpture. Plastic art like
you have never seen it before. Participating artists include a number
of world-class sand sculptors.
Sao Paulo Art
Biennial
Established in 1951, it is the oldest biennial in the Americas and the
second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale, which
began in 1895. Noted for its curated themed exhibitions, the Sao Paulo
Biennial specializes in Brazilian, Latin American and international contemporary
art.
Sapporo Snow Festival
Founded in 1950, when six students built a number of snow statues in a
local park, this 7-day winter arts festival is held every February in
Sapporo, Japan, and attracts some 2 million visitors. The program includes
the Sapporo International Snow Sculpture Contest, as well as exhibits
of ice architecture - including
mazes, theatres and other structures. The festival ranks alongside the
annual Harbin Ice Sculpture festival in China.
SH Contemporary
(Shanghai)
China's first international art fair SH Contemporary was founded in 2007
by Lorenzo Rudolf, one of Art Basel's former directors. Managed by BF
International Fairs, Bologna Italy, SH Contemporary reflects the strength
of the rapidly growing Asian art market,
in particular the influence of Chinese
art collectors.
Shanghai Biennial
Founded in 1996, it began as a showcase of traditional Ink-and-Wash
Painting techniques, and some calligraphy,
by Chinese painters
from the Shanghai region. Since then it has grown extensively, and now
features cutting edge movements like Cynical
Realism, as well as conceptual art,
installations, digital and video art and several other disciplines. In
2010 it featured 50 participating postmodernist
artists, of whom just under 20 were from China. This biennial is the
major contemporary art event in the city, and is usually held in September
at the Shanghai Art Museum. As well as the main curated museum exhibition,
its program includes lectures, "happenings"
and installations in a number of different venues across the city.
Sydney Biennial
Billed as the third oldest biennial in the world, and the largest and
best-attended contemporary visual arts event in Australia, the Biennial
of Sydney was set up in 1973, and takes place across the city from June
to September. The first arts biennial to be founded in the Asia-Pacific
region, it now features Australian and Oceanic
art, as well as works from around the world. See also: Australian
Impressionism as well as Australian
Modern Painting (c.1900-60). For older works, see: Aboriginal
Rock Art (Australia).
TEFAF (Maastricht)
Founded in 1975 as the The Pictura Fine Art Fair, it was renamed The European
Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) in 1996. Typically features over 250 of the
most eminent art and antiques dealers from around the world. In 2011,
for instance, its 30,000 exhibits had a combined value of $1.5 billion.
Vancouver International
Sculpture Biennale
This festival of public art is an open air
exhibition of contemporary sculpture, featuring
installations by Canadian as well as international sculptors. Each exhibition
can be viewed for a two-year period, in public spaces across the city
of Vancouver. A key feature of the Biennale is its community educational
program that enables local students to learn more about the art on display.
In addition, the city gets to keep two sculptures for long-term display.
Venice Biennale
(Biennale di Venezia)
The oldest, largest and best-attended of all international festivals of
visual art, the Venice Biennale opened in 1895, and now takes place in
venues throughout the city, from June to November in odd-numbered years.
It also encompases the Venice Film Festival, and the Venice Biennale of
Architecture, which is held in even years. Among its famous participants
was the Serbian performance artist Marina
Abramovic (b.1946) who won the Golden Lion for her performance "Baltic
Baroque" (1997).
Whitney Biennial
(New York)
Established in 1973, and held at the Whitney
Museum of American Art (March thru May), this is New York's leading
exhibition of postmodernist art by unknown,
emerging and established American-based artists - including a fair representation
of women artists, thanks to feminist pioneers like Judy
Chicago (b.1939) and Barbara
Kruger (b.1945). The Whitney Biennial has also shown the politically
slanted collages of street artist David
Wojnarowicz (1954-92). Overall, it is considered by many art
critics to be the key contemporary arts show in the world calendar.
In addition to painting, sculpture and the usual contemporary forms, the
Biennial now features performance art as well as contemporary dance and
theatre.
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