Redefining the biennial aims and model
Abstract
This chapter analyzes how, in the late 1960s, the Venice and São Paulo biennials began rethinking the biennial model due to their institutional crisis, triggered by the contestazione and boicote . Through analysis of national contexts and theoretical reflections, this chapter highlights how crisis and the reformulation converge with local and international tensions and impulses, as well as shared perspectives. By examining unpublished archival documentation, this investigation demonstrates that the Venice and São Paulo biennials closely observed each other and their respective reformulation processes.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Art
Politics
and Modernism
Architecture
Modernity
and Design
Libraries and Information Services
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 76–88
- Publication date
- 10 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter