5 - 13 December 2009

Fortezza da Basso - Florence

With High Patronage

of the President of the Italian Republic

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Biennale 2005

The sixth edition of the Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic location of the Fortezza da Basso from 1-9 December 2007. The 2005 edition closed with a large public attendance and a happy presence of 768 artists worldwide. Christo & Jeanne-Claude and Richard Anuskiewicz who were awarded with the maximum recognition, the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" award for the career, were protagonists of unforgettable days, with conferences that attracted an impressive number of enthusiasts, artists and visitors.

Each day of the fifth edition was studded with collateral events and conferences, such as that of Gregorio Luke, Director of the MOLAA at Long Beach, of Rosa Tejada from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, of that given by R.B. Bhaskaran, President of the Lalit Kala, National Academy of Art, India. Ambassadors, cultural ambassadorial attachés, consuls, directors of foreign cultural institutes in Italy were present at the inauguration on 3rd December 2005, along with personalities from the world of art and culture, all of whom were welcomed by the Historic Florentine Procession in traditional Renaissance costume and by the Gonfalon of the City of Florence.

The Biennale is honored to have the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the Patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that of the Region of Tuscany, the Province of Florence and the Council of Florence.
Harley Davidson was paid tribute to in the 2005 edition being awarded with the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" prize for their incomparable and continual development in technology in one of the most modern forms of life. With the upcoming Winter Olympics 2006 at Turin, the Biennale had the exceptional presence of the Olympic Torch, a symbol of civilization, peace and universal fraternity. The Biennale awarded the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" award to Toroc, the organizing entity of the Winter Olympics and paid tribute to the creativity of Pininfarina who designed the 2006 Olympic Torch.

The Biennale is, moreover, twinned with the Triennial of India, representing an opening for thousands of Indian and Asian artists, and with the Biennale of Turku, Finland.

In the 2005 edition various participating artists from Austria exhibited their chosen works at the Ringstrassen-Galerien, Vienna in an exhibition which was attended by Emil Brix, Director General of Cultural Activity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Austria and Andreas Stadler, Advisor for the Arts to the Federal President of the Republic of Austria. The Biennale has always involved the city of Florence outside the walls of the Fortezza da Basso. In the 2005 edition, in Piazza Beslan in front of the entrance of the Biennale the work by the sculptor Carole Feuerman, “Catalina” was exhibited and at the historic café the Giubbe Rosse, a painting by Herwig Maria Stark. Karin Giusti realized a suggestive installation piece located at St. James' Church in Florence.

FB05: YOU ARE HERE!

The Florence Biennale was founded in 1997 as a global convocation of artists in all their numbers and diversity. It was an idea whose time had come. By the late 1990s, contemporary art was at a cross-roads. The old assumptions – that art came in waves, each named for an ‘ism’, that auction prices equal value received, that painting was ‘dead’ and so on – were collapsing. Suddenly it was obvious that art is alive, thriving, and as various as humanity. Artists are everywhere.

Around this time, in old Florence, something new was stirring. A committee of Italian artists and curators proposed a biennial where talented, credentialed artists could exhibit their latest work. The artists would select the show. The risks were enormous: there had never been a show on this scale with a direct connection between artists’ studios and the exhibition walls. Assessing the unfiltered results would be the task of an International Jury. In 1997, with hardly any publicity, the word went out. The response was dramatic: 317 artists from 17 different countries wanted to see for themselves.

By 2003, the 4th Florence Biennale had grown into the world’s most comprehensive survey of new art, showing more than 800 artists from 70 different countries. This year’s 5th Biennale builds on those numbers and broadens its horizons. A huge show needs a short name - FB05 seems to work. To judge from the advance notices in the art and mainstream press, FB05 is on track for record attendance and important consequences.

As I wrote on this page in 1999, “There are many factors behind this successful launch, but Florence is clearly a prime one.” The city owes its greatness to contemporary artists named Giotto, Donatello, Masaccio and Michelangelo. We are still learning from the Renaissance. But another factor has emerged as key: the artists’ own commitment to the openness of this show. Those expecting a single curatorial vision will be astonished by its polyglot multiplicity. The only curator is you. Here are 3000 paintings, sculptures, prints and installations. Make your ‘short list’ – no two lists will be alike.

Artists at every stage of their careers, including the most eminent, play key roles at the Biennale. Their presence is confirmation that the garden of art yields wondrous fruit when tilled by many hands. Past distinguished recipients of the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" Award for Career Achievement include Chen Cheng-Hsiung (2001, the first Chinese abstract expressionist painter) and David Hockney (2003). This year Career Awards will be bestowed on Richard Anuszkiewicz, and on Christo and Claude-Jeanne.

The Biennale believes in fostering respect and tolerance among the world’s artists. In 2001, the Biennale was recognized by the United Nations as an official partner in its program, Dialogue among Civilizations. FB05 features its collaborative association with the Triennale of India, the most important contemporary art exhibition in Asia. The idea of a gemellaggio (Italian: ‘as twins’) arose after the prize-winning contribution of Yusef Arakkal, eminent Indian artist, at FB03. See the special pages in this catalogue for more information on the special events related to the Lalit Kala Akademi, which organized the XIth Triennale of India in New Delhi in January.

FB05 constitutes the second edition of our fruitful gemellaggio with the Finnish Biennale of Turku: see the special page in this catalogue regarding this gemellaggio. Latin American art will be the focus of a guest lecture by Rosa Tejada of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The presentation, en español, will illustrate the museum’s collections of modern and contemporary Latin American artists.

The interaction of art and science is an ongoing theme of the Biennale. FB03 presented exhibitions of the Vatican Museums Conservation Laboratory and historic Ferrari racing cars. Streamlined speed will again be on view in this year’s show of classic motorcycles by Harley Davidson.

In closing, I would like to thank the participating artists, critics and art supporters for their invaluable assistance, especially thanking jurors Dore Ashton, Teresa Ortega Coca and Matty Roca, who now go on to other projects, and welcoming the arrival of new jurors, R.B. Bhaskaran and Julián Zagazagoitia.

John T. Spike
Art Director