The Lyon Biennale stems from a project by the Lyon’s Museum of Contemporary Art, directed by Thierry Raspail in 1984. Following the Paris Biennale’s closure in 1985 the Biennale proceeded by an annual event from 1984 – 1988 entitled October of the Arts. This event gave rise to the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art in 1991, which was inaugurated by the City of Lyon and the Ministry of Culture within the framework of decentralization, aiming to move the French Biennale of Contemporary Art outside Paris. Since 1991 the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art has been financed in equal parts by the City of Lyon and the French Ministry of Culture.

The organizational model of the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art is to create events of artistic self-renewal while also building a stable, long-term project, bonding with its host territory. For each edition the Artistic Director builds the event’s identity, choosing a curator or curatorial team to devise an artistic project in close collaboration. Each edition of the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art provides the opportunity to explore a specific theme such as, history, globalization and temporality.

Curators have included amongst other: Harald Szeemann, Guy Darmet, Jean-Hubert Martin, Le Consortium (Robert Nickas and Anne Pontégnie), Nicholas Bourriaud and Jérôme Sans, Stéphanie Moisdon and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hou Hanru.

Source: www.labiennaledelyon.com