Contemporary Art Biennials in Europe

Nicolas Whybrow is Professor of Urban Performance Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. He is the editor of Performing Cities (2014) and the author of Art and the City (I.B. Tauris, 2011).

• List of figuresAcknowledgementsIntroduction: European Biennials, Complex Cities, and the Work of Art 1. Folkestone Turned: of Fault-lines and Fairy-tales2. Sculpture Trials, Sculpture Tales: Münster’s ‘Rupture Projects’ and the Time of Art3. ‘Viva Venezia Viva’: Treasures from the Wreck of the ‘Unbelievable City’4. Belgrade Conversations: Mikser, its Festival and the City’s ‘descent to its rivers’, Nicolas Whybrow with Marko Jobst and Marijana Cvetkovic5. Neighbourhood Watch: Building and Dwelling in IstanbulConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

The next instalment of Whybrow’s innovative and hugely important work on art, performance and the city. He adopts an alternative approach to biennial culture in Europe and seeks to show how the artworks in these ‘events’ have the possibility of producing a sense of location for the city dwellers who encounter and ‘use’ them as aesthetic compasses. The book is original, stylish, and innovative. There is a real sense that the author is an expert in this field and he wears his knowledge with elegance and grace.