Shwetal A. Patel is an independent researcher and writer. Patel studied social sciences at Queen Mary University of London while experimenting in the fields of music, fashion, art, and film in the artistic scene of nineteen nineties east London. Moving his base to Florence, Italy, Patel was invited to strategically develop India's first contemporary art biennial: a non- profit initiative conceived and led by artists. Since launching in 2012, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale has been critically hailed and is considered an influential platformfor contemporary art and art education in Asia. Patel is currently pursuing his PhD at the Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) and regularly contributes to academic journals and publications. He lives and works in London.

11.07 Biennialisation in the 21st century

The recent history, display, and shift2 in contemporary art is increasingly observed through the lens of biennialisation3, linked in part to the surge in number and the growth in popularity of biennials over the past three decades. Today, it is estimated that over three hundred large-scale, perennial exhibitions exist globally (Kolb and Patel, 2018). These recurring, temporary exhibition platforms have come to define contemporary art and art history for many art historians and scholars (Green and Gardner, 2016, p. 3). The biennial has also come to be regarded as one of the most ubiquitous and celebrated exhibition models across the globe, with biennials now regularly taking place in all major continents, listed in Appendix 1. Throughout this thesis, I will place emphasis on biennials within the visual arts paradigm, though biennials of architecture, design, graphics, film, new media, photography, music, dance and other disciplines have also flourished. Biennials can be seen as a distinct genre in the artworld that has developed throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Biennials have arguably emerged as one of the key markers and drivers of contemporary exhibition-making practices and are increasingly important for an understanding of post-war, late 20th century, and early 21st century art history (Greenberg, Ferguson and Nairne, 1996). If museums and gallery exhibitions have for the past century been ‘the medium through which most art becomes known’, then today it is perhaps the biennial exhibition that is the ‘medium’ through which new forms of art and artistic practice are introduced (Greenberg, Ferguson and Nairne, 1996, p. 2).

Despite increases in intercultural dialogue and understanding that have emerged in the field, and the rising number of visitors and audiences that encounter contemporary art through biennials and related formats, there is a growing sense of creeping homogeneity and normalisation in the field (van Hal, 2015, p. 3). Key research questions have emerged in relation to this, including how social and cultural relations of power may be theorised considering the proliferation and co-interaction and expansion of biennials globally. This can be partnered with theories of homogenisation and the ‘flattening’ of art practice into one global model, as worst-case scenario. The increasing impression of homogenisation and intellectual standardisation within the field, with dominant Western approaches of art practise and theory curtailing local and vernacular art forms and traditions, is a trend attributed to globalisation and its effects of transnational assimilation (Enwezor, 2003; Mosquera, 1992). This flattening effect has emerged, paradoxically, concomitant to an expansion of the global art map. Many new artists (and curators) have indeed been discovered and appreciated through their presence at the growing number of these periodically recurring temporary exhibitions, generally held at intervals of two (biennial), three (triennial), four (quadrennial) and five (quinquennial) years, although one major survey exhibitions also occurs every ten years (decennial) in the city of Munster in Germany. This expansion has led to a polyphonic reading and expanded awareness of global art history and practise, drawing local practitioners into globalised networks, in turn giving prominence to hitherto marginalised and peripheral cities and regions (Nwezi, 2013, p. 212). If, arguably, the art history of the early 20th century was written in Moscow, Paris, Zurich, New York and London (i.e. Europe and America), then the art history of the late 20th and early 21st century is also being written in cities including São Paulo, Shanghai, Havana, Gwangju, Istanbul, Dakar, Johannesburg, Sharjah and Kochi (Nwezi 2013:214).
2 Globalisation, ease of travel and mass communication has both enlarged and shrank the known art world over the last 100 years, with a noticeable rise in prominence of Asia within global circuits.

3 The term ‘biennialisation’ is not just used to describe the proliferation of biennial- type events around the globe, but how, in the words of the critic and biennial historian Terry Smith, ‘biennials have become structural within the contemporary visual arts exhibitionary complex’. The term is often used as a critique of the growing ubiquity of the format within the global art system.

11.08 Site visit and onsite discussion TANK Shanghai

TANK Shanghai is a nonprofit institution and a pioneering and multifunctional art center. Through contemporary art exhibitions and events, the public is invited to closely experience art, architecture, the city, nature and the exceptional Huangpu river view. TANK Shanghai consists of exhibition spaces, a parkland, gardens, a plaza, a bookstore, an education center and a café, covering an area of 60, 000 m² in total, 10, 000 m² of which being the gross floor area.

Qiao Zhibing is an important contemporary art collector and the founder of Tank Shanghai Art Centre. At the end of 2006, Qiao Zhibing has been dedicated wholeheartedly to collecting Chinese and he began to collect international contemporary art in 2009.Qiao's collection focuses on contemporary art and contemporary art related to artists' personal experience. His broad vision and adventurous spirit make his collection full of contemporaneity, internationality and diversity. Since 2013, Qiao Zhibing has been listed frequently on the ARTnews 200 top art collectors in the world.

The West Bund Art & Design

WESTBUND ART & DESIGN was founded in 2014 and is held annually at the Westbund Art Center along the Huangpu Rrom Asia, Europe and the Americas to exhibit high-quality modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, images, installations and performance arts. The WESTBUND ART & DESIGN is held with by the Shanghai's city art institutions together constituting Shanghai's rich artistic map, and marking the city ofShanghai in November an important spot on the global art calendar.