Art Biennials as Anti-Institutional Institutions

Approaching the subject of ar biennials, there is a sense of hypercomplexity of the subject that lends itself to be describe more in terms of post-structurial theory than in anything like sociological formulations that could be easily transferred to discussions taking place at governmental, NGO and international meetings about effects of globalizations, ways to react to it, and their local impact. On one hand, I perceive art biennials as anti-institutional institutions that directly grow from the developments in the field of contemporary art. In a way, they represent the state of the art of the international institutional discussion in the field on how relations between artists, institutions, and public should be organized. On the other hand, I am receptive to how global context, transformations and actors shape what happens on the urban level that art biennials also represent. This way there is a sense of merger between two levels of global and local agency that in the case of art biennials produce a rich research field that when thought of comparatively can yield important insights on institutional globalization, cities of culture and social transitions.