TORONTO BIENNIAL OF ART ANNOUNCES CHANGE OF DATES FOR ITS SECOND EDITION

 City-wide event and programs will now take place in spring 2022

Toronto, Ontario, Canada… The Toronto Biennial of Art (the Biennial) today announced that its second edition is being postponed in response to the current global pandemic. Originally scheduled for fall 2021, the Biennial will now take place March 26–June 5, 2022. The Biennial’s Board of Directors and Executive Director Patrizia Libralato, along with the Biennial team, decided to postpone the event for six months to help ensure the health and safety of participating artists, collaborators, partners, supporters, the public, and Biennial staff.

 The artists invited to participate are developing projects that require many of them to travel to Toronto, undertake site visits months in advance, and manage on-site installations just prior to the opening of the event. These activities require their presence in the city. As travel and shipping continue to be disrupted by the pandemic, the ability of artists to realize their projects as conceived in a shortened time frame was at risk.

The Biennial was established as a celebration of the arts across the city of Toronto, engaging the public with free and accessible programming at a variety of venues and locations. By postponing the event, organizers will be better positioned to present a Biennial that truly reflects the vision and best efforts of all involved and to further build on the success of the 2019 edition. Timing for the third edition will shift to fall 2024, and continue thereafter every two years.

 “Our inaugural Biennial in 2019 welcomed nearly 300,000 local and international visitors who discovered a range of artistic experiences deeply rooted in place. We aim to expand on that engagement in our 2022 edition and help contribute not only to economic recovery, but to the collective emotional recovery within the arts sector and the many communities we work within. Postponing our event until next spring enables us to develop a Biennial that everyone can attend and participate in safely,” said Patrizia Libralato. “We are profoundly grateful for the patience and resilience of our partners and sponsors who have pledged to continue their support of our vision for 2022 and are thrilled that the artists remain committed participants.”

 “As a curatorial team, we are excited about the exhibition and programs underway for 2022 and look forward to our continued work with artists as they create site-specific projects that respond to Toronto’s complex cultural context and pressing issues of our times. Their commitment to sharing their ideas and energy as we move forward together will produce a new edition that sparks connections, inspires exchange, and reframes understandings of the city,” said Curator Candice Hopkins.

The Biennial has updated its growing lists of partners, as well as its sponsors and supporters for 2022 (below).

List of Partners 

Building creative partnerships through collaborative installations, exhibitions, and programming across Toronto and surrounding areas is an integral part of the Biennial’s core activities. The 2022 Biennial will work with art spaces, established art institutions, artist-run centers, community organizations, and educational institutions including Aga Khan Museum; Art Gallery of York University (AGYU); Art Toronto; ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021; Evergreen; Fogo Island Arts; grunt gallery; Mercer Union; Momenta; MOCA Toronto; Oakville Galleries; OCAD University; Small Arms Inspection Building; Textile Museum of Canada; and Toronto Sculpture Garden. Additional partners and venues will be announced in the coming months.

List of Sponsors and Supporters 

The Biennial is pleased to announce that the 2022 edition is generously supported by the City of Toronto; the Government of Ontario; Toronto Arts Council; Canada Council for the Arts; City of Mississauga; Canadian Art; Castlepoint Numa; Cineplex Media; Dickinson Wright; Newpoint Developments; St. Joseph Communications; TD Bank Group; Yamana Gold; and Woodbridge Investments Corporation. Additional sponsors will be announced in the coming months. The Biennial also recognizes the generous renewed support of The Pierre Lassonde Family Foundation; The Michael & Sonja Koerner Charitable Foundation; Polar Foundation; Michelle Koerner and Kevin Doyle; The Ouellette Family Foundation; and Peter Goring and Suzann Greenaway. The Biennial also appreciates the ongoing and generous support of the Biennial’s many Founding Visionaries, Contemporaries, and Patrons.

About the Toronto Biennial of Art

The Toronto Biennial of Art’s mission is to make contemporary art available to everyone. For 10 weeks every two years, local and international Biennial artists transform the city and surrounding regions with artworks, talks, and performances that reflect local contexts and pressing issues of our time. The Biennial’s free, citywide programming aims to inspire people, bridge communities, and contribute to global conversations.

The inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art launched in 2019 and was a popular and critical success, welcoming nearly 300,000 local and international visitors to 15 sites that featured 161 artists and performers. The Biennial provides expanded views of contemporary art practices, including significant contributions by BIPOC artists and artworks, and is establishing a legacy of free and accessible contemporary arts programming in Toronto, Mississauga, and the surrounding GTA.

For more information, visit: torontobiennial.org, @torontobiennial, and #TObiennial22 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

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