Syndicate: help to save Johannesburg Biennial

["Piotr Krajewski" <wro@gnet.pl>]

Title: help to save Johannesburg Biennial




Please help us to save the Johannesburg Biennial.


Dear Colleagues,

When Ivo Mesquita was recently fired from the Sao Paulo Bienal for no
apparent reason it was the efforts of the global art community that made
the bureaucrats realise the consequences and reconsider their decision.
There is sadly a precedent that few are aware of and even fewer speak of.

In 1997 following the international acclaim and success of the 2nd
Johannesburg Biennial, artistic director Okwui Enwezor and key members of
his team were fired without reason, in addition to which the Johannesburg
City council decided to close the exhibition a month earlier than had been
scheduled. As a result of the efforts of a few individuals the exhibition
managed to stay open as scheduled but the biennial has not survived.

More than 3 years has since passed and every effort to begin the process
that would culminate in the third Johannesburg Biennial has failed. As it
stands there will never be another Johannesburg Biennial ever again.

Neither the Johannesburg City Council nor the National Government's
Department of Arts and Culture have given any reasons for this
cancellation. Key amongst the reasons inferred is that the Biennial is not
perceived as being important to either South Africa or to the international
art community.

You can make a difference! If the South African government is made aware of
the important role this exhibition plays in life of every African artist as
well as the significance it has for the international art community it will
have no option but to change its policy. If the Johannesburg City Council
is made to realise how this single exhibition has changed the lives and
careers of so many key South African artists, both black and white, then
perhaps they would change the minds as to its vital importance. As it
stands the politicians are listening to the voices of a few individuals in
whose interests its lies that the exhibition remain canceled forever. Such
an important exhibition should not get caught up in personal politics and
hidden agendas.

Please add your name to the list below and email it to Brigitte Mabandla,
the deputy minister of arts and culture <adm03@acts3.wcape.gov.za> and
<min07@dacst3.wcape.gov.za> Â asking that the Johannesburg Biennial be
reinstated. If  the South African government is made aware of the
importance this exhibition they will have no option but to  begin the
process once again. Please now do for Johannesburg, for South Africa and
for the entire African continent what you have done for Sao Paulo:

PLEASE HELP THE JOHANNESBURG BIENNIAL TO SURVIVE BY ADDING YOUR NAME AND
TITLE TO THIS LIST AND PASS IT ALONG TO YOUR COLLEAGUES. ONCE IT REACHES
50
NAMES PLEASE SEND IT ON TO:

adm03@acts3.wcape.gov.za
        and
min07@dacst3.wcape.gov.za

or fax it to: Â Â +27-21- 455 6241:2:3:4:5:


1. Â Valeria Piccoli, Assistant Curator, XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo
2. Â Veronica Cordeiro, Curatorial Assistant, XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo
3. Â Ana Paula Cohen, Curatorial Assistant, XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo
4. Â Carla Zaccagnini, Artist, Curatorial Assistant, XXV Bienal de Sao
Paulo
5. Â Adriano Pedrosa, Associate Curator, XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo
6. Â Ivo Mesquita, Chief Curator, XXV Bienal de Sao Paulo
7. Â Martin Grossmann, Vice Director Museu de Arte Contemporanea-USP
8. Â Ines Raphaelian, Sao Paulo, Artist, Independent Curator
9. Â Regina Silveira, Sao Paulo, Artist
10. Nazareth Pacheco, Sao Paulo, Artist
11. Izabel Murat Burbridge, Sao Paulo, Translator
12. Monique STUPAR, directeur artistique Poiters France
13. Paulo Herkenhoff, Adjunct Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
14. Jose Ignacio Roca, Jefe Artes Plasticas, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango,
Bogota.
15. Pat Binder, artist, Universes in Universe, Buenos Aires/Berlin
16. Gerhard Haupt, art critic/curator, Universes in Universe, Berlin
17. Nikolaj Recke, artist. Berlin/Copenhagen.
18. Per Traasdahl, artist, Zurich/Copenhagen
19. Christoph Doswald, curator/art critic, Berlin/Zurich
20. Erik Dettwiler, artist, Zurich
21. Thomas Pfister, curator for media arts, Museum of Fine Arts,
Berne/Switzerland
22. Conny E. Voester, Director, VIPER - International Festival for Film
Video and New Media, Basel/Switzerland
23. Piotr Krajewski, Director, WRO International Media Art Biennale, Wroclaw, Poland

-------------------------------------------------------------
Piotr Krajewski
artistic director
WRO Center for Media Art                        
29a Kuznicza St.
P.O.Box 1385 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 
PL 54-137 Wroclaw                                        

tel/fax (+48 71) 3422691

wro@gnet.pl
wro@wro.getin.pl

www.wro.getin.pl