January 29, 2014
Extraordinary developments in Bucharest –
dissensus with curator raises confusion about new concept and curator to be appointed last minute to avoid ‘reputational risk’!
Less than four months before the announced launch of the 6th Bucharest Biennale, the organisers release the astonishing information that Nicolaus Schafhausen is no longer the curator of the biennale, due to not specified «incompatibilities and conceptual approach that could generate a reputational risk».
No less astonishing is the information given on the official website of the biennale, that a new curator, a new list of artists and an entirely new concept will be announced in a press conference on February 5, 2014:
With the successful model imposed by the previous editions, the Biennale already established its position within the international scene, as one of the most vital art events in Europe.
Organisers’ main priority remains the maintenance of the good reputation of the project and its implementation in an ethical manner.
The meaning behind these descriptions, notwithstanding its artistic consequences for a biennale «deus ex machina», realised in less than four months, remains uncertain. Seismopolite will follow the further development of the biennale closely, and the new information will also be commented in a longer essay on the Bucharest biennale to be released shortly in Seismopolite issue 6, Learning from Bucharest. Rethinking 'white spots' of art production in Central and Southeastern Europe, written by Belinda Grace Gardner.
The Bucharest Biennale 6 (BB6) website may be visited here: http://bucharestbiennale.org/
