Reflecting on 2024: IBA’s Year in Review

We want to take a moment to look back at our activities for this year and thank everyone who participated in our activities and programs to continue making the International Biennial Association (IBA) the leading platform for research and knowledge exchange for and by biennial makers across the world.

This year has indeed been a very special one for us at IBA as we saw a complete makeover of our Executive Board during our 21st Board Meeting held in Venice during the opening days of the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere curated by Adriano Pedrosa. In this occasion two founding members of IBA and long term Executive Board members Gaby Horn (former Director of the Berlin Biennale) and Bige Örer (former director of Istanbul Biennial) formally stepped down. During the same Board Meeting Sam Lackey (Director of Liverpool Biennial) and Barb Moore (CEO Biennale of Sydney) were voted in to take up the role as Vice Presidents of IBA.

Later in the year the changes in our governing bodies continued during the 11th General Assembly, held in Lyon between October 11 and 14, in partnership with the Biennale de Lyon during their 17th edition titled “Les voix des fleuves, Crossing the water” curated by Alexia Fabre. In this occasion our board expanded to welcome four new members: Kevser Güler (director of Istanbul Biennial), Ingrid Haug Erstad (Director of Bergen Assembly), Shihoko Iida (head of Curatorial – Aichi Triennale), Axel Wieder (Director of Berlin Biennale). Since its founding IBA has seen its board as a space for the representation of the global presence of the model and therefore as a tool to represent and advocate for biennials the world over. In this light we hope that more biennials leaders will be joining this crucial position within our organisation.

Key moment of this year’s activities was indeed our 11th General Assembly, titled Mending the Shores: Transforming Biennials for a Sustainable Future. The workings of the General Assembly opened with some engaging discussions between our members and selected guests through our staple moment of brainstorming and discussion through focus groups on Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Economical Sustainability, Inclusivity, Legacy, and Public Role of Biennials. These topics lead naturally towards our public program which saw the participation of world leading figures such as a keynote by Prof. Didier Gondola under the title Restitution and Renaissance: A view from the Tervuren AfricaMuseum. His enticing opening was followed by three panels respectively on Sustainability and Degrowth, Inclusivity and Diversity, and International Global Networks of Solidarity.

In conclusion of the 11th General Assembly the historic signing of the document Guiding Principles (IBA Guiding Principles) took place, which represents the first attempt by biennials to create a common set of best practices and deontological rules for our members to follow. As stated within the document itself Guiding Principles is a live document and we therefore encourage our members to an engagement with it and to raise both potential shortcomings or cases which might call for an expansion on specific areas touched upon in the document.

Throughout the year we continued to facilitate dialogue and dissemination of biennial-led content through our website, social media platforms and with our public programs – in person and online. By doing so we want to keep underlining the vital role biennials play in producing contemporary art as well as contributing to the development of vital local cultural infrastructure. Our ongoing IBA Stage program has regularly given voice to biennial from countries across the world including Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Italy and Turkey just to name a few. You can find the full series available on our site or here.

We conclude a great year for IBA and look forward to new and exciting news and activities in 2025 which will have certainly its highlight in the 12th General Assembly to be held in Santa Fe (NM) in partnership with SITE SANTA FE in parallel to the 12th SITE SANTA FE International. If you want to read more about our partner for this year’s General Assembly we invite you to follow their social media and subscribe to their newsletter!

We wish you a happy and joyful 2025!