The Organization
The Vancouver Biennale is a non-profit charitable organization (with a federal registration number of 85193 4273 RR0001) that exhibits great art in public space, creating a catalyst for learning, community engagement, dialogue, and social action. Our mission is to make Public Art accessible, engaging, and motivating while creating vibrant and inspired communities.
Our exhibitions are unique in the world in that we feature sculpture, new media, film, music, and performance. We transform the urban landscape into an Open Air Museum, creating unexpected and globally inspired cultural experiences where people live, play, work, and transit. With each exhibition, we demonstrate that great public art is an economic driver by creating magnetic cultural attractions for visitors, and is foundational to creating livable, creatively inspired communities where installations become a social bridge for people of all ages and cultures to come together as neighbours to explore, learn, dialogue and imagine.
The Vancouver Biennale (Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale/Biennale Internationale de la Sculpture de Vancouver) is funded through grants, corporate sponsorship, gifts in-kind, and philanthropic donations and is supplemented by the sale of art after each exhibition. One hundred percent of net profits from the sale of Vancouver Biennale artworks are used to fund the Biennale’s exhibitions and programs.
We are committed to building the cultural assets of our partnering communities for the benefit of generations to come. To date, the Vancouver Biennale has facilitated the acquisition and donation of over 3 million dollars’ worth of public art to our host cities as a lasting legacy of the Vancouver Biennale exhibitions. Artworks include the iconic A-maze-ing Laughter, the only public art installation in the country nominated as one of the “Great Places in Canada.”
Programs
Open Air Museum
The Vancouver Biennale flagship, a curated international art exhibition that transforms city parks, streets, and transit corridors into an open-air museum that is accessible to local communities and visitors. The exhibition creates livable, creatively inspired communities and vibrant gathering places via large-scale sculptures, digital media installations, and performance-based works by local and international artists, such as Ai Weiwei (China), Dennis Oppenheim (USA), OSGEMEOS (Brazil), and Michel Goulet (Canada). The Open Air Museum emphasizes civic engagement, dialogue on social and environmental issues, and a reimagining of public space through the lens of contemporary art.
International Artist Residency Program
This program, a cultural exchange of creativity between nations and artistic disciplines, has welcomed 92 breakthrough artists of merit from North America, China, Northern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Latin-speaking countries. Each residency runs over a 4- to 8-week period with pods of 4 to 6 artists and is facilitated by a residency coordinator. Participating artists create public installations and social interventions and deliver public lectures and open-house workshops, providing opportunities for local communities and artists to benefit from reciprocal sharing of ideas, diverse techniques and practices, and professional networking. The residency program prioritizes socially engaged practices, cross-cultural exchanges, and artistic responses to the urban, ecological, and cultural contexts of the region.
Biennale CineFest Live
The Vancouver Biennale hosts events, screenings, masterclasses, and education series dedicated to curated art documentaries from around the world celebrating master filmmakers and provocative artists, such as Oliver Stone and Ai Weiwei.
BIG IDEAS Education
BIG IDEAS, a key Vancouver Biennale community outreach program that is socially inclusive and which provides resources to all grades and schools within British Columbia, is an art-inspired program integrating the Vancouver Biennale’s current and legacy art installations and the province’s educational curriculum. Local artists collaborate with teachers in the delivery of art-infused inquiry learning sessions to foster critical, reflective learning opportunities; creative thinking; and community engagement. While utilizing curriculum-aligned resources, workshops, and digital tools, BIG IDEAS empowers young people to explore themes of identity, belonging, sustainability, and social justice through direct encounters with contemporary art and artist-led experiences.
Vancouver Tour de Biennale and BIKEnnale
The Tour de Biennale is a charity bicycle ride that combines recreation cycling with arts and culture, and the BIKEnnale is a family outdoor sports event that is held in Vancouver Biennale host communities.
Legacy
The Vancouver Biennale’s Legacy Program builds cultural assets of our partnering communities for the benefit of future generations. To date, the Biennale has successfully facilitated the acquisition and donation of over 3 million dollars’ worth of public art to our host cities.
Our History
The Vancouver Biennale has its early roots in a 1998 collaboration with the Vancouver Parks Board, which brought leading names in international sculpture to Vancouver for a 4-month exhibition along a stretch of public parkland at English Bay. Over seven million viewers experienced this unprecedented display, resulting in excellent public feedback, a second public exhibition in 2000 and a third in 2002-2004, and the incorporation of the Vancouver International Open Spaces Sculpture Biennale as a non-profit, federally registered charitable organization in 2004.
The 2005-2007 exhibition was the first under the Vancouver Biennale name and consisted of an 18-month exhibition of 22 international public installations over a larger geographical footprint along oceanfront walkways, in public parks, and in major intersections throughout Vancouver. The 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale experienced another wave of explosive growth, recognition, and media attention and featured 37 artworks in Vancouver, Richmond, Port Moody, and West Vancouver. During subsequent exhibitions in 2014-2016 and 2018-2021, the organization further cemented its reputation as a placemaker of art in public spaces–using art as a catalyst for learning, community engagement, dialogue, and social action where we live, work, play, and transit–while inaugurating and growing the Vancouver Biennale’s International Artist Residency Program.
In total, the Vancouver Biennale has featured close to 100 art installations (via sculptures and other media) by over 80 participating artists from 25 countries and 4 continents. Along the way, the Biennale has established strong municipal partnerships and an abundance of relationships and alliances with other arts organizations, international biennales, curators, auction houses, and media; as a result, our audience and promotional impact have grown significantly across the globe. The Vancouver Biennale has increasingly become an exhibition of record, helping transform Metro Vancouver into a major cultural destination and centre of artistic vibrancy. By any international standard, our alumni are an impressive and influential group of contemporary artists.
