Course description
The course follows an interdisciplinary approach to the famous platform of the global art world, thus highlighting the interface between social anthropology and art.
Since its very beginning in 1893 the Biennale di Venezia was a reliable mirror of current historical-political events: World Wars I and II, the student revolution of the 1960ties, the military dictatorship in Chile 1973, the war in Ukraine since 2022 - to mention just some of them. Historical events not only triggered reactions but also shaped the spatial layout of the Biennale itself.
Today the exhibition space Giardini can be read as kind of frozen image of world history where the national pavilions of the great European powers, France, England and Germany, stand in a triangle on the highest elevation in immediate vicinity of the pavilion of the former Republic of Yugoslavia, which no longer exists. Whereas the majority of non-European and non- American countries have their pavilions outside the main exhibition spaces - if at all.
But not only the arrangement of the pavilions reflects a past world order, history is also reflected in the architecture of the pavilions. After Hitler seized power, the originally Bavarian pavilion was redesigned according to Nazi aesthetics. To leave the exhibition spaces untouched is a conscious decision and challenges contemporary artists to interact with these spatial arrangements in order to find artistic answers to historical legacies in an ongoing process of memory and creation.
We can therefore state that the Biennale is a dialogical space in which historical events are memorized, addressed, processed and challenged by means of artistic practice, and in which each curator decides about the frame of reference: while the 57th Biennale in 2015 was curated from a postcolonial perspective the 59th edition based its concept on feminism, the post-human and surrealism – just to give some examples.
For the 60th Biennale Arte in 2024 Adriano Pedrosa has been nominated as the curator. He is currently the artistic director of the Museo de Arte in Sao Paolo and will be the first Latinamerican curator of the Biennale di Venezia. Although we are currently still lacking information on the biennial topic in 2024, we might assume that Adriano Pedrosa will approach it from an Latin American perspective, which includes the history of its colonial past but also its present positions - this can only mean that the Biennale will once again be a fruitful field of research.

In this course we will depart from general questions about the interrelatedness of biennials in general and the Biennale di Venezia in particular with the history of their cities and /or countries. In a second step we will dive deep into the history of the Venice Biennale and the way this history is reflected and addressed in the actual exhibition spaces. A special focus will be placed on the topic chosen by the curator and the theories and concepts associated with it.

Apart from reading and discussing theories and texts we will step directly into the field of La Biennale and explore the realities of the event. Students will design their own research project related to La Biennale, do fieldwork and reflect on their findings. The outcome will be presented in an open seminar at the Biennale. The course will be held in cooperation with La Biennale Sessions the student program of the Biennale di Venezia.

Learning outcomes
Students learn to:
- analyze and contextualize texts
- to express themselves and engage in class discussions
- learn about an anthropological perspective on contemporary art
- learn how to approach a global art platform like the Biennale and make themselves familiar with it
- students will learn how to design their own research project and present it

Course Requirements
- The course is a seminar. Each session is organized around readings that must be completed before class. Students have to be prepared to discuss the texts and physically bring them to class (either on paper or on screen) so that we can re-read certain passages.
- prepare one oral presentation (alone or in a group) accompanied by PowerPoint presentations, based on the readings
- do research (alone or in group), present and discuss it
- write one final essay. The essay must include bibliographical references and notes. The topic can be chosen in agreement with the professor and may range from one of the topics of the seminar to reflections on own research experiences.

Evaluation
30% attendance and participation
30% oral presentation in class
40% written final essay

Topics:
- Biennials and their history. Positioning between politics and policies: Venezia, Istanbul, Havana/Cuba, Dakar/Sénégal, Port au Prince/Haiti
- History of the Venice Biennale
- History of exhibition spaces in Giardini and Arsenale
- Memory and trauma in contemporary art
- Artistic practice as memory practice in selected pavilions (Arsenale & Giardini)
- Theories and concepts behind the curated exhibition spaces
- reflecting on research and concepts
- Preparation and conceptualization of La Biennale Sessions – open seminar at the Biennale space Arsenale as a lively discussion space.

Bibliography
Assmann, Aleida 2012. Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives. Cambridge Univ. Press
Bydler, Charlotte. 2004. The Rise of the International Biennial Format? La Biennale di Venezia/La Habana/Istanbul S. 96-123 IN: The Global Art World. On the Globalization of Contemporary Art. Stockholm, Uppsala
Gibbons, Joan. 2007. Contemporary art and memory. Images of recollection and remembrance. London: J.B. Tauris
Filipovic, Elena & Van Hal, Mareike. 2010. The biennial reader. An Anthropology on large- scale perennial Exhibitions of Contemporary Art. Bergen: Kunsthalle Bergen.
McQuire, Scott & Papastergiadis, Nikos. 2005. Empires, Ruins & Networks. The Transcultural Agenda in Art. London, Chicago
Miller, John. 2003. The show you love to hate. A Psychology of the Mega-Exhibitions. IN: Bruce Ferguson & Reesa Greenberg (Eds.) Thinking about Exhibitions
On Curating. Contemporary Art Biennials – Our Hegemonic Machines in Times of Emergency. Eds: Ronald Kolb, Shwetal Patel, Dorothee Richter. Issue 46/June 2020
Rendevous mit dem Realen: Die Spur des Traumas in den Künsten. Memory Cultures. Eds: Aleida Assmann, Karolin Jeftic, Frederike Wappler. 2014. Münster: Transkript
Schneider, Arnd & Wright, Christopher.2010. Between Art and Anthropology. Contemporary Ethnographic Practice. Oxford, NY: Berg.

Last updated: February 29, 2024