Bienal de Pontevedra

HISTORY OF THE BIENNIAL

• 1969-1977

  During the first stage, the Biennial was continuously improved and its territorial scope was extended. Therefore, in 1974, international artists began to display their works.

• 1977-1981

  During these years, a number of changes were made to its structure, which underwent a period of growth and professionalisation.

  During this stage, it adapted to the cultural and social changes that were taking place in Spain, evolving towards a more demanding model and open to new trends.

• 1982-1986

  The Biennial established itself as a benchmark for the national art scene by organising leading exhibitions of Spanish art from the second half of the 20th century and boosting international art.

  The year 1982 marked the end of the competition format, with an exhibition focused on la movida scene (a countercultural movement that took place during the Spanish transition to democracy), and, in 1983, the exhibition was centred on post-modernity, with Spanish painting of the 1980s and a singular display of mail art.

  From 1991 to 2010, the Biennial reached its peak. The Museum of Pontevedra, which had been in charge of some anthological exhibitions dedicated to local artists since 1989, assumed its management, always with the support of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra. 

• 1992

  Under the direction and coordination of the Museum of Pontevedra, the 22nd Biennial was held. It comprised three exhibitions:

  • A main exhibition entitled Semellanzas e contrastes. Visións da arte peninsular da última década a través de tres coleccións (Similarities and contrasts. Views of peninsular art in the last decade through three collections), featuring selected works from the collections of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Unión Fenosa and the Contemporary Art Association of Madrid.
  • An anthology dedicated to the Galician musician Manuel Quiroga Losada (1892-1961).
  • A retrospective exhibition of Novos Valores 1982-1991. Memoria dunha década (Young talented artists 1982-1991. Memories of a decade).
• 1994

  The 23rd Biennial consisted of four simultaneous exhibitions:

  • A central exhibition dedicated to the Spanish painter Juan Uslé, entitled Namste.
  • Novos mestres alemáns (New German masters). Grothe Collection. Bonn Art Museum, at the Pazo provincial.
  • An anthological exhibition of the Galician painter Virxilio Blanco, at the Museum of Pontevedra.
  • Áreas de silencio (Silence areas), at the Teatro Principal in Pontevedra.  
• 1996

  Five exhibitions were programmed for the 24th Biennial:

  • Joaquín Torres García. Obra constructivista (Joaquín Torres García. Constructivist work)
  • An anthological exhibition dedicated to the sculptor from Vigo Camilo Nogueira
  • Reencontro con Leopoldo Nóvoa. Ausencias e cinzas (Reunion with Leopoldo Nóvoa. Absences and ashes).
  • Ausencias e cinzas; materias, memorias. Dez artistas de América Latina (Absences and ashes; matter, memories. Ten artists from Latin America).
  • Os paseos de Euclides (Euclid's walks).
• 1998

  From this year onwards, the Pontevedra Art Biennial consolidated itself as a prestigious event with a series of exhibitions designed to reflect the growing interest in contemporary art.

  Under the coordination of the Museum of Pontevedra and with Xosé Carlos Valle as its director, leading independent curators and international critics were invited to take charge of the Biennial's exhibitions, which, until its disappearance in 2010, turned the event into a benchmark for the international contemporary art scene. The Biennial began to spread throughout the town and took new spaces, first the Pazo da Cultura and then the Museum's Castelao Building.

  The 25th Biennial, entitled ‘Fisuras na percepción’ (Fissures in perception), was curated by Miguel von Hafe Pérez and Alberto González Alegre.

• 2000

  María de Corral was in charge of the 26th Biennial, under the title ‘O espazo como proxecto, o espazo como realidade’ (Space as project, space as reality), featuring artists from Brazil, Spain and Portugal.

• 2002

  María de Corral was once again the curator of the Biennial, on this 27th edition under the name ‘Narrando espazos, tempos, historias’ (Narrating spaces, times, stories). This year, works from the avant-garde of Nordic art (Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway) and Iberian art (Spain and Portugal) were exhibited to show how art brings together nations and the people traditionally linked to the sea, to fishing and to the permanent presence of nature.

• 2004

  Miguel von Hafe and David G. Torres curated the 28th Biennial, ‘No principio era a viaxe: In the beginning there was the journey’, in which, by exploring this concept, a parallelism was made between the exhibition and the Jacobean Holly Year, one of the most important religious pilgrimages. 

• 2006

  Victoria Noorthoorn curated the 29th Biennial, entitled ‘Off/Fóra: movementos imaxinarios entre Galicia e o Cono Sur’ (Off/Fóra: imaginary movements between Galicia and the Southern Cone), including a story about migrations which opened a dialogue between Galicia, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

• 2008

  The curator of the 30th Biennial was Abdelkrim Ouazzani. Entitled ‘Sen fronteiras: converxencias artísticas hispano-magrebíes’ (Without borders: Spanish- Maghreb artistic convergences), it was dedicated to three Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria). Its main theme was multiculturalism, multiethnicity and integration. It was the first time that a biennial in Europe dedicated a monographic event to the Maghreb.

• 2010

  The 31st Biennial, curated by Santiago Olmo under the title ‘Utrópicos’, took a look at the universe of Central America and the Caribbean, with references to themes such as exile and emigration, through the works of about a hundred American and Galician visual artists like Maruja Mallo, Arturo Souto and Francisco Leiro.