9. Biennale de Lyon 2007

Preview: September 17-18, 2007 Opening: September 18, 2007

Lyon 2007 There are now 103 biennials around the world, mapping news that is growing exponentially, apparently renewable at will, and interchangeable. Flux is prevailing over singularity. One hundred and three biennials, 103 lists of artists, 103 titles... a biennial opens roughly every three days, and they cover one another. Their mechanics inhabit and generate a perpetual present, stretching to infinity. How, then, can a biennial still have critical authority? In 2003 and 2005, we opened a debate on this new form of temporality – firstly on the programmed future, and then on duration.

And now the debate continues: starting with the conviction that there must surely be a history to news and an archaeology to the news of news (the undifferentiated present), I invited Stéphanie Moisdon and Hans Ulrich Obrist to reflect upon this challenge and conceive the 2007 Lyon Biennial. Their ambition is clear: to open the century and name the decade, but with humour. The 2007 Biennial will thus be a game, played as it should be with the utmost seriousness; it will explore issues to do with players, of course, but also with polyphony and, especially, the essential place occupied by the artist.

Thierry Raspail Artistic director, Lyon Biennial

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The 21st century hasn't yet begun, the century has to begin! Alain Badiou

The next Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art will open on 17 September 2007. The project devised for this 9th edition by Stéphanie Moisdon and Hans Ulrich Obrist is a history book written by a number of people. The history of a decade yet to be named; of a present that is endlessly arriving.

The project is structured like a grand game, with rules for selecting and casting the roles; a game in which some 50 “players” from around the world are invited to invite an essential artist of this decade. The ultimate purpose of this game, in which invitation is the rule, is to produce together an original landscape, to rethink the format and grammar of contemporary art biennials, and to create living matter from the archaeology of now.

This history book, published on the occasion of the biennial, is both the project's origin and its horizon. It is conceived as a space open to different voices and trajectories. It will comprise essays by philosophers, critics and historians, and the manifesto texts of each player, centred on a particular vision of the present and of what is happening on the contemporary creative scene. The dynamic system which develops through the formation of this community, enables us to reach beyond generational, geographical and thematic axes and to shift the hierarchies and conventions of knowledge into a feedback loop.

Conceived of as a history and geography manual in the form of a game, the 2007 Lyon Biennial is inviting sixty-six Players from all over the world, distributed in two circles. Forty-nine of them (curators, art critics…) are being asked to answer the following question: "Who, in your opinion, is the artist who best represents this decade?" A second circle is composed of seventeen other Players – artists – each devising a program, a system or a problematics intended to define the decade in progress.

FIRST CIRCLE (The Player >The Artist)

Francis McKee >Jumana Emil Abboud Peio Aguirre >Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa Hamza Walker >Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla Tom Morton >Charles Avery Jacob Fabricius >Dave Hullfish Bailey Marta Kuzma >Thomas Bayrle Gilbert Vicario >Erick Beltran Rachael Thomas >Gerard Byrne Dorothea von Hantelmann >James Coleman Joanna Mytkowska >Minerva Cuevas Beatrix Ruf >Keren Cytter Stefan Kalmar >Dot Dot Dot Magazine Hu Fang >Cao Fei Massimiliano Gioni >Urs Fischer Francesca Grassi >Ryan Gander Suman Gopinath >Sheela Gowda Pooja Sood >Shilpa Gupta Scott Rothkopf >Wade Guyton Eric Troncy >David Hamilton Nicolas Trembley >Christian Holstad Giovanni Carmine >Norma Jeane Lauri Firstenberg >Adrià Julià Trevor Smith >Brian Jungen Hou Hanru >Ömer Ali Kazma Susanne Pfeffer >Annette Kelm Adriano Pedrosa >Marcellvs L. Stuart Comer >Hilary Lloyd Jochen Volz >Cinthia Marcelle Dan Fox >Nathaniel Mellors Vincent Pécoil >Ohad Meromi Tirdad Zolghadr >Museum of American Art Raimundas Malasauskas >Darius Miksys Mathieu Copeland >Mai-Thu Perret Andrea Viliani >Seth Price Daniel Birnbaum >Tomas Saraceno Jens Hoffmann >Tino Sehgal Philippe Vergne >Ranjani Shettar Julieta Gonzalez >Simon Starling Yves Aupetitallot >Una Szeemann Francesco Manacorda >Armando Andrade Tudela Natasa Petresin >Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas Pierre Bal-Blanc >Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio, Augustine Zenakos >Kostis Velonis Anne Pontégnie >Kelley Walker Sean O’Toole >James Webb Pi Li >Liu Wei Thomas Boutoux >Jia Zhang-ke

SECOND CIRCLE

Saâdane Afif Jérôme Bel Paul Chan & Jay Sanders Elie During Trisha Donnelly Claire Fontaine Michel Houellebecq >Rem Koolhaas, Rosemarie Tröckel, Thea Djordjadze Pierre Joseph >Benoît Broisat, Etienne Chambaud, Cyprien Gaillard, Mark Geffriaud, Fabien Giraud, Benoit Maire, Bruno Persat, Raphael Siboni, Raphael Zarka, Collectif 1.0.3 Markus Miessen Josh Smith Rirkrit Tiravanija e-flux video rental

SPECIAL EVENT – a coproduction with Opéra National de Lyon Jérôme Bel - “The Show must go on” – Opéra National de Lyon - 17th September 20h30: preview, invitation only - 18, 19, 20 September 20h30

The Venues La Sucrière Institut d’art contemporain Fondation Bullukian Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon

Professional Relations Management For registration, accomodation and general information: Nicolas Garait +33 (0)4 72 07 41 41 pros@biennale-de-lyon.org http://www.biennale-de-lyon.org/pros

2007 Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art 3 rue du Président Edouard Herriot BP 1137 69203 Lyon Cedex 01 - France Phone: +33 (0)4 72 07 41 41 Fax: +33(0)4 72 00 03 13 http://www.biennale-de-lyon.org

007 Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art
00s – The history of a decade that
Konzeption : Stephanie Moisdon, Hans Ulrich Obrist
Künstlerische Leitung: Thierry Raspail

Künstler FIRST CIRCLE: Jumana Emil Abboud, Juan Perez Agirregoikoa, Allora & Calzadilla, Charles Avery, Dave Hullfish Bailey, Thomas Bayrle, Erick Beltran, Gerard Byrne, James Coleman, Minerva Cuevas, Keren Cytter, Dot Dot Dot Magazine, Cao Fei, Urs Fischer, Ryan Gander, Sheela Gowda, Shilpa Gupta, Wade Guyton, David Hamilton, Christian Holstad, Norma Jeane, Adria Julia, Brian Jungen, Ömer Ali Kazma, Annette Kelm, Marcellvs L., Hilary Lloyd, Cinthia Marcelle, Nathaniel Mellors, Ohad Meromi, Museum of American Art , Darius Miksys, Mai-Thu Perret, Seth Price, Tomas Saraceno, Tino Sehgal, Ranjani Shettar, Simon Starling, Una Szeemann, Armando Andrade Tudela, Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas, Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet, Kostis Velonis, Kelley Walker, James Webb, Liu Wei, Jia Zhang-ke

SECOND CIRCLE: Saadane Afif, Jerome Bel, Paul Chan & Jay Sanders, Elie During, Trisha Donnelly, CLAIRE FONTAINE , Michel Houellebecq >Rem Koolhaas, Rosemarie Trockel, Thea Djordjadze, Pierre Joseph >Benoit Broisat, Etienne Chambaud, Cyprien Gaillard, Mark Geffriaud, Fabien Giraud, Benoit Maire, Bruno Persat, Raphael Siboni, Raphael Zarka, Collectif 1.0.3 , Markus Miessen, Josh Smith, Rirkrit Tiravanija, e-flux video rental