The Richmond News February 23, 2011 A05
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It got people talking, arguing, pointing fingers and clicking their cameras all over Richmond. With a little more than two months left on its expiry date, the 2011 Biennale has been a “huge success,” according to its founder and president. Barrie Mowatt looked back on the eye-catching and sometimes controversial public art exhibition’s 16 month-stay thus far in the city, which saw Richmond become the temporary home for a giant wavy red ball, a giant drip of water and a giant chrome bust of Communist icon Lenin. And despite the Biennale being a victory in Richmond in Mowatt’s eyes — in terms of generating debate and publicity — the biggest date of the current exhibition’s life has still to come. On April 30, all of the Biennale installations will go to auction. And the price the pieces manage to achieve will determine whether the Biennale lives on or withers away. “There are two major corporations already enquiring about one of the Richmond pieces. I cannot say which, though,” Mowatt said the auctioning process. “We rely on the auction for 90 per cent of our income, so it’s a very important time.” The City of Richmond is currently conducting a survey of its residents to find out if there’s any appetite for retaining one of the installations and, if yes, which one. Unlikely to top that survey
Indeed, such is the forward planning needed to pull the Biennale off, work in the 2013 exhibition actually started in December. “We started a number of things, such as preparing the budget and we already have our eye on one major sculpture,” Mowatt said. “But let’s not forget this Biennale. Richmond still has the Blue Trees on its world public debut next month.” The thousands of dollars spent by the city to assist the Biennale in bringing the public art to Richmond has been called into question of late by a few city councillors and News readers. Love them or loath them, however, Mowatt said the merits of large public art installations are there for all to see. “You can’t really sneak around it, can you? You can’t pretend you didn’t see it. That’s part of the drama,” he said.
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acampbell@richmond-news.com
will be sculpture of Lenin/ Miss Mao, which attracted some fierce criticism and opposition from certain sections of the community when it was first installed. Mowatt revealed that he and his selection committee only became aware of the Lenin proposal from the artists, the Gao Brothers, at the very last minute. “We actually didn’t get to see that piece until the very end and it kind of took us by surprise,” he said. “The Gao Brothers had submitted other proposals with us, but this one came in at the last minute. “Yes, I have to say we’ve been really happy with it. It did what art is supposed to do. It got people talking and stirred public debate.” Lenin aside, Mowatt explained that it takes about a year to get from sourcing a public art proposal for the Biennale to the final selection table. And it all comes down to the opinion of Mowatt and his curatorial team. “We have two principle curators, one from China and one from Japan and then you have me, the artistic director,” he said. “We’ll also hire other curators for certain areas of performance. But the final decision lies with myself. “Two years in advance we start to get into the process of sourcing and selecting the art. The curators go out and seek out what they feel might work and return to us with proposals. We then view the proposals and assess the artistic reputation, perhaps refine the proposals and then find the funding for it.”
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BY ALAN CAMPBELL
Lenin/Miss Mao sculpture is one of the most controversial pieces of the Biennale. It has attracted heavy criticism and inspired conversation, which, in part, is what art is supposed to do, says the Biennale founder.
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CHUNG CHOW/RICHMOND NEWS
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Biennale founder and president Barrie Mowatt, at left, describes the event as a huge success.