Program Bergen Biennial Conference: 17th of September - 20th of September 2009. Brief summary of conference program. For details on lectures, dialogues and workshops please read the daily program. Thursday 17th of September: OFFICIAL OPENING Venue: Bergen Kunsthall. Opening of the conference and the Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Bergen Kunsthall at 19:00 by Henning Warloe, Commissioner of Finance, Cultural Affairs and Sports, City of Bergen. The official opening of the Bergen Biennial Conference will also mark the start of the Biennial Archive’s opening party. Wine will be served during the opening, before the party continues in Landmark café and bar. Arquivo Histórico Wanda Svevo Bergen Kunsthall - NO.5 17th September – 4th October Opening: 17th Sep 19:00 Open daily from 12:00 – 21:00. Friday 18th of September: HISTORY The opening day of the conference will lay the foundations for subsequent discussions by focusing on the history and origins of biennials and other perennial international exhibitions, from early World’s Fairs and the Venice Biennial, as well as such others as the São Paolo, Havana Biennials and Documenta to the 1990’s biennial boom that saw the rise of the Manifesta, Berlin, Istanbul, Gwangju, Mercosul, and Dak’Art Biennials, among many others. Discussions will closely consider the historical events and socio-economic, geopolitical contexts that made these recurrent exhibitions possible or even necessary and urgent. This day will also address the ambitions and forms that these exhibitions and the art they show have taken over the years. Saturday 19th of September: PRACTICE The second day will focus on practice, elaborating on the different types of biennials today, looking at their functioning, developments and evolution over time. This day will be the occasion to reflect collectively about the biennial as a historically new type of art institution, reading the variety of benefits and limitations of such large-scale art events against the grain of their resulting exhibitions. Questions will be raised such as: Do biennials foster different or more interesting art exhibitions and more inventive curatorial practices? How does the biennial differentiate itself from and/or depend on other art world structures? Sunday 20th of September: FUTURE In a time when post-modernity has come to an end and an era of alter-modernity has been announced, is the perennial exhibition still relevant? Taking up the query that some biennials are themselves asking of late about the potentials and limits of the format, this day focuses on the future. Reflecting on the responsibility and the role of the curator, the recent tendency towards new discursive models for biennials will be discussed, as well as the consequences of these changing exhibition structures for artists, curators and the public. Why is ‘yet another biennial’ seen as redundant, while new museums or art centers usually are welcomed within a community? The discussions and thoughts of the previous days will come together and the possibilities for new curatorial paradigms as well as the idea for a biennial in Bergen will be assessed.