South American Biennials: Dispositifs of Resistance and Diplomacy

This session explores South American biennials as underexamined dispositifs of aesthetic and political agency, with particular attention to their emergence, evolution and resonance beyond dominant Euro-American exhibition paradigms. Events such as the São Paulo Bienal, the Bienal de La Habana, the Cuenca Bienal, the Bienal de Mercosur, and the historical biennials in Chile, as the Bienal Americana de Grabado, Bienal de Valparaiso and the experimental Triennal de Chile, have historically functioned as platforms for regional articulations of modernity, postcolonial identity, and transnational solidarity. Some were shaped by Cold War diplomacy; others by neoliberal transitions or the reactivation of anti-colonial imaginaries.

We seek contributions that interrogate the biennial as a site of tension between cultural diplomacy, curatorial experimentation and geopolitical asymmetries. Papers might examine curatorial models, archive-based research, alternative institutional genealogies, feminist or decolonial critiques, or the effects of these exhibitions on contemporary art ecosystems.

We especially welcome proposals in mixed formats, including performative lectures, video-essays, artistic interventions, or short screenings (up to 10 minutes), as well as more traditional 20-minute papers. The session aims to foster a space of dialogue between academic researchers, artists and curators, and to foreground South-South perspectives in biennial histories.

By challenging the canonical cartography of art history, this session contributes to a more plural understanding of contemporary exhibition practices and their political implications in times of global crisis, cultural precarity and democratic erosion.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Mariagrazia Muscatello, PhD (University of Chile / Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Lecturer, Universidad de Artes, Ciencias y Comunicación (UNIACC), Santiago de Chile Independent researcher and curator, mariagrazia.muscatello@gmail.com  / maria.muscatello@uniacc.edu