Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath to curate the 16th edition of La Biennale de Lyon
La Biennale de Lyon announces the appointment of Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath as Curators of the Biennale de Lyon 2021.
Marking the Biennale’s 30th anniversary, the 16th edition will be on view from September 2021 until January 2022.
Biennale Director since 2019 Isabelle Bertolotti, who oversaw its ambitious move into the 29,000 square meter space of the Fagor factories, stated: “I have long followed the profound engagement that Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath have been creating with local audiences in cities across the globe, and the artist-centred nature of their curatorial projects. I am excited to see how they will apply the multiple strands of their collaborative practice as an independent, non-institutional voice, within the context of the Biennale and the city of Lyon.”
Founded in 1991, La Biennale de Lyon is one of the world’s leading contemporary art biennales, and the foremost art event in France. The 2019 edition attracted almost 280,000 visitors—around 50% of visitors whom were aged under 26, it is decidedly a biennale of today. With several innovative outreach initiatives, it is informed by a desire for dialogue and interaction.
Commenting on their appointment, Bardaouil and Fellrath said: “We are thrilled by the invitation to curate one of the most globally recognized contemporary art biennales, and look forward to expanding its experimental nature and agile structures in the 16th edition. This is a great opportunity to bring the diverse range of artistic and cultural positions, which we have encountered over the years of our global independent practice into conversation with the French art scene. On the occasion of the Biennale’s 30th anniversary, we envision a meaningful manifestation that is ambitious yet resourceful, and boldly indicative of our time.”
The Lyon Biennale is jointly funded by the Lyon Métropole, the French Ministry of Culture, the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the city of Lyon, as well as a broad range of private and institutional sponsors.
Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath are Founders of Art Reoriented, a multidisciplinary curatorial platform, launched in New York and Munich in 2009. They are Chairmen of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation in Hamburg, and Affiliate Curators at Gropius Bau in Berlin. They are internationally recognized independent curators and award-winning authors known for their rigorous inter-temporal, trans-cultural, and cross-disciplinary approach. Their curatorial practice is rooted in global contemporary artistic practices, as well as in the field of modernist studies. They have taught at various universities, including the London School of Economics and New York University.
Bardaouil and Fellrath have collaborated as a duo over the past ten years, independently engaging with a wide range of institutional models worldwide. Some of their exhibitions include Walking through Walls, Ways of Seeing, Surrealism in Egypt, Mona Hatoum: Turbulence, Dansaekhwa and Korean Abstraction, Staging Film, Tea with Nefertiti, and Told Untold Retold. Their exhibitions have been shown in institutions worldwide such as Centre Pompidou in Paris, Villa Empain in Brussels, Kunstsammlung K20 in Dusseldorf, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, IVAM in Valencia, Reina Sofia in Madrid, Tate Liverpool, Gwangju and Busan Museums of Art in South Korea, Beirut Exhibition Centre, and ARTER in Istanbul. In 2016 they were part of the team of curatorial attachés of the 20th Biennale of Sydney. At the Venice Biennale, they curated the Lebanese Pavilion in 2013 and the Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
Photo credits: Courtesy NPUAE © Mohamed Somji / Seeing Things
