New Art Triennial in Cleveland, OH Announced for 2018

The triennial was conceived by Co-Artistic Directors Michelle Grabner (one of the curators of the 2014 Whitney Biennial) and Jens Hoffmann (curator at The Jewish Museum in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit), following an invitation by FRONT International CEO & Executive Director Fred Bidwell.

The first edition, entitled “An American City,” will take place July 7—September 30, 2018, and will aim to rethink the conventional biennial or triennial exhibition model.

“An American City” is already planned to feature more than 50 international artists and include site-specific artistic interventions throughout the city, public programs, artistic and curatorial residencies, a temporary academy, a web-based art journal for the Midwest, and a number of solo and group exhibitions.

Bidwell described the triennial as a “grand experiment” to “shine a bright light for three months on what’s here.”

Research will focus not only on Cleveland’s most celebrated and stereotyped characteristics, but also on its overlooked elements: little-known locations, historical curiosities, marginalized subcultures. Objects from Cleveland’s collecting institutions will be exhibited in thematic presentations, along with remarkable documents and photographs drawn from the city’s archives. The exhibition’s aspiration is to become a dynamic system of dialoguing components, rather than a static and invariable display of art objects.