Art for the (Host) City: How La Biennale and Manifesta12 Contributions Locally Benefitted Venice and Palermo

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Arts and Culture (MA)

Billi, Rebecca (2024)

Art for the (Host) City: How La Biennale and Manifesta12 Contributions Locally Benefitted Venice and Palermo

Master thesis | Arts and Culture (MA)

After a flourishing boom that characterised their 1980s and 1990s development, biennials are today at the centre of ongoing criticism and belittling. In response to these critiques, and starting from Oliver Bennett's statement that biennials can, in fact, positively impact engagement with cities, I ask what these events can do for their host. What beneficial outcomes can temporary exhibitions bring to the city and the local population? In this thesis, through the combination of theory and selected case studies, I will explore in what forms Venice and Palermo, as biennial hosts, were positively impacted by the recurring presence and artworks of La Biennale in one case, and the punctual one of Manifesta in its twelfth edition, in the other. I will argue that biennials represent important spaces to exercise the right to the city, through appropriation and participation, and how this is supported by the temporary and ephemeral nature of the site-specific works on show.

Biennials

La Biennale di Venezia