Göteborg International Biennial
for Contemporary Art (GICBA) 

7 September – 17 November 2013

Throughout modern history artists have used the hidden workings and the agency of play to push boundaries and change norms, to render language delirious and experiment with form, and to insert art into a variety of narratives, ranging from the personal and social to the critical, political and historical.

But in our globalised world what seems to be at a constant risk of failing is the very human imagination. New ground for reclaiming the radical imagination needs to open up and alternative ways of thinking and living need to be created. Art remains one of the last frontiers where creative playfulness and activism, social experiment and philosophical deliberation can meet uninhibitedly and spark off such alternatives.

Curatorial Structure

The boom of biennials across the world has affirmed our time as that of curating, suggesting that we rethink this practice as an art in its own right. GIBCA 2013 introduces a new structure that aims at harvesting the energy of innumerous curatorial strategies abounding in our time. Stina Edblom (co-curator GIBCA 2011) and Edi Muka (co-curator GIBCA 2007) have been appointed artistic directors of the biennial. They have formulated the conceptual framework and invited four international curators to develop individual episodes, using this framework as a starting point: Katerina Gregos, Ragnar Kjartansson in collaboration with Andjeas Ejiksson, Claire Tancons and Joanna Warsza. Together, and through very diverse curatorial perspectives, these episodes will give form to GICBA 2013.