The 2nd Coventry Biennial is Now Open

Andrew Jackson, Riverhouse, Kingston, Jamaica, 2018.

Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art 2019
The Twin
October 5 – November 24, 2019
http://www.coventrybiennial.com

The second Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art will unfold across Coventry, UK from the October 4 to November 24, 2019. Billed as the social Biennial, organisers invite people to “learn, look, make, talk, think and walk with us” with a series of exhibitions, workshops, talks, screenings and supper clubs over the 52 days. Titled The Twin, this year’s Biennial is made up of work focused on relationships and draws upon Coventry’s heritage as a pioneering and internationally twinned city.

The core programme of The Twin, curated by Ryan Hughes will take visitors on a tour of 21 venues, including Coventry’s medieval and modernist buildings. St. Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry Cathedral, The Weaver’s House and—in collaboration with Coventry Artspace—an ex-NHS building all have a role to play this year. Visitors will also have the chance to explore artists’ studios, galleries and museums, such as the Herbert Art Gallery, Arcadia Gallery, The Pod Cafe and Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum.

With over 100 artists and groups exhibiting in The Twin, the show explores themes and ideas inspired by the “international city” including translation, collaboration and togetherness while also exploring some of the difficulties presented by globalisation, political inequality and conflict.

The exhibitions feature a variety of work including woven photographs, installations made of loom bands, photographic work, dinosaur sculptures, a series of floor tiles and a collaboration with a city centre-based agency addressing rough sleeping. The exhibitions are also supported by family workshops, artist-led-yoga, film screenings and artist talks, of which many are either free to attend or operate on a pay what you can policy.

The broad range of core exhibitions and sister projects have been produced in close collaboration with local, national and international partners including Artangel, New Art West Midlands and International Curators Forum.

Ryan Hughes, Artistic Director of Coventry Biennial explains: “Coventry has been an international, welcoming and activist city for decades. We are thrilled to be working with artists, our twin cities and a wide variety of partners on our core programme and sister projects to explore what it means to be together in 2019.”

“Embedded in Coventry Biennial 2019 are opportunities to speak to or eat with the artists, to learn a new skill, to warm yourself by a fire at a ceilidh, to dance through the night in a local brewery or to ease yourself into the day with a yoga session.”

It is this spirit of care and friendship which marks this as the UK’s social biennial.

The 2019 Coventry Biennial runs from October 4 until November 24, 2019. With the next biennial due to return for Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture in 2021.