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| Abraham Poincheval, Étude pour Ruche, 2020, studies for performance, Vieille Charité, Marseille, ©Abraham Poincheval/Vieille Charité |
Rethinking Biennials in the time of environmental crisis
Biennials as a Beehive
By Clémence Pons
"Without doubt, we must redesign the way we live in the world. We can no longer continue on the current path, even with technological prowess. We can no longer move around as much. We can no longer renew as much. We can no longer waste as much. We can no longer kill as much. We really have no choice but to accept this evidence."
(Aurélien Barrau, Le plus grand défi de l’histoire de l’humanité)
In the last decade, the art world has witnessed an increased awareness of environmental issues. In 2010, for instance, museums and institutions across the UK signed a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint by 2023. Although it seems that an art green revolution is underway, what about biennials? The ecological print of a biennial is significant. From conception to completion, the life cycle of such a large-scale event includes CO2 emissions, wasted energy, and use of disposable materials often disregarded as future recycling.
Thinking about another Biennale today implies reasoning on people’s future on our planet. To create a virtuous circle, we have to reimagine the biennial’s concept at the very essence. Biennial curators and organizers can reduce CO2 emissions by optimizing their transfers and art shipping. In this direction, the 2022 Sydney Biennial will be the first 100% ecologically friendly art event. The freshly appointed director José Roca stated he would move to Australia once the artists’ line-up is finalized, avoiding endless trips around the globe.
Biennials could also act as zero-waste structures by adopting R-R-R-R, namely the four environmental principles par excellence. For example, envisioning the manufacturing of scenography and banks for panels and partitions used in exhibition-making can represent a concrete yet straightforward answer to the question of recycling. By implementing sustainable development principles, biennials can become a beehive-like model of environmental sustainability for society at large, beyond the art niche, and for the common good.
Abraham Poincheval, Étude pour Ruche, 2020, studies for performance, Vieille Charité, Marseille, ©Abraham Poincheval/Vieille Charité