The biennial was at one time called into being as a representative showcase for the nation-state. Nowadays this arts institution is confronted by increasingly stiff global competition between countless ‘places to be’. The biennial has flourished into a cherished form of city marketing, which is one of the reasons we are currently seeing an explosive growth in this
form of art presentation. Artists and organizing curators are fully aware that they are subscribing to a neoliberal market logic and therefore devise strategies in response to this.

In edition 16 of Open, leading curators, art theorists and political thinkers, including Michael Hardt, Boris Groys, Thierry de Duve, Simon Sheikh, Chantal Mouffe and Irit Rogoff turn their attention to possible alternative strategies.