The Perennial Biennial: New Collaborative Project Between European Biennials Announced

Visitors with Chou Yu-Cheng's Chemical gilding, keep calm, galvanise, pray, gradient, ashes, manifestation, unequal, dissatisfaction, capitalise, incense burner, survival, agitation, hit, day light, 2015. Installation view at St George’s Hall, Liverpool Biennial 2018. Photo: Thierry Bal

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We are delighted to announce that Liverpool Biennial and its partners – Bergen Assembly, Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Berlin Biennale and Riga Biennial – have been awarded funding from Creative Europe to deliver The Perennial Biennial. This new project will develop sustainable models of practice, curatorial development and research in the biennial field between 2018 and 2021.

Over the last four years, Europe has witnessed significant political and cultural changes. This unrest has brought about an urgency and desire for closer collaboration in the arts. The Perennial Biennial has been developed in response to this and will operate as a year-round collaboration to further the field of biennial practice and strengthen European biennial networks across five major partners in Germany, Latvia, Slovenia, Norway and the UK.

The project will support curatorial practice, research, writing and discourse in the biennial field through collaborative working, staff exchanges and the sharing of expertise and models for sustainable practice. Its aim is to create dynamic national and international commissioning partnerships which will strengthen the biennial sector in each location. The network will support a number of European Biennials to participate in the International Biennial Association (IBA).

Creative Europe is the European Union's programme to support the cultural, creative and audio-visual sectors. From 2014-2020, €1.46 billion is available to support European projects with the potential to travel, reach new audiences and encourage skill sharing and development.