About Coventry Biennial

HISTORY AND APPROACH:

Coventry Biennial was founded in 2017 as an artist-led, strategic response to the city publishing a 10 year cultural strategy & the bid to become UK City of Culture.

Our vision & mission is to make:

Contemporary art exhibitions, initiatives & collaborations of social relevance
With Coventry, its neighbours & beyond
Activating spaces, exchanges & experiences

We aim to:

– CONNECT people, groups & places in unique & meaningful ways, increasing engagement with contemporary art & the unique context of the local area.

– MAKE work with artists & communities that is ambitious, innovative & high quality, building on the city’s craft & manufacturing heritage.

– DEVELOP the local sector & scene to grow, becoming more diverse, dynamic & sustainable, learning from the city’s art history while fostering new talent & initiatives.

To do this we support & present socially, politically & critically engaged art in Coventry & Warwickshire to local, national & international audiences.

We work with artists to respond to the city’s complex history, geography, built environment & relationships, retaining an outward-looking perspective, ensuring that our work has broader appeal, significance & impact. This unique context informs our commissioning of new works that are often co-created in response to themes that connect to the local area while also relating to broader developments & trends in contemporary art.

Our programmes occupy local museums, galleries & studios, but distinctively, also make innovative use of disused, high street and non-art spaces as a way to reach new audiences & increase relevance.

We are well aware of the issues that face Biennial’s, but consider ourselves among what writer Jens Hoffmann has identified as

“a number of biennials [that] have thankfully begun to realise that deeper artistic and and curatorial commitment as well as a sense of urgency are required. These biennials have started to articulate more specific missions, which usually emerge from from the histories and current realities of their locales”

The inaugural Coventry Biennial, called The Future, took place from 6th – 22nd October 2017 in venues across the city, the centre-piece being the wonderfully sprawling CET Building, now partially re-open as the Telegraph Hotel.

The second Coventry Biennial, called The Twin, took place from the 4th October – 24th November 2019 in locations across Coventry and Warwickshire including significant group exhibitions at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and in a disused NHS rehabilitation centre that is now under re-development.

The third Coventry Biennial, called HYPER-POSSIBLE, took place from the 8th October 2021 – 23rd January 2022, alongside the Turner Prize and as a part of Coventry’s UK City of Culture celebrations.

The fourth Coventry Biennial, called … like a short cut through the brambles, took place from the 6th October 2023 – 14th January 2024 in venues across Coventry and Warwickshire including the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and Compton Verney.

The fifth Coventry Biennial, called Obsessions, Possessions took place in venues across Coventry and Warwickshire including a disused, medieval Coach House set in the grounds of a heritage nature park between the 3rd October 2025 and the 25th January 2026.

REPORTS:

In 2018 we produced a publication called Shifting Ground outlining our initial successes, a high quality PDF of this publication can be downloaded here.

In 2020 we also produced a publication called Sowing Seeds outlining our more recent successes, a high quality PDF of this publication can be downloaded here.

In 2022 we produced a publication that reflects upon the HYPER-POSSIBLE programme, a high quality PDF of this publication can be downloaded here.

In 2024 we produced a publication that reflects upon the … like a short cut through the brambles programme, a PDF of this publication can be downloaded here. A variant cover version can be downloaded here.

In 2026 we will be publishing a report that reflects on the Obsessions, Possessions programme, a high quality PDF will be available here soon.

CURRENT COVENTRY BIENNIAL TEAM:

• Rahiela Seef, Executive Assistant
• Dion Ellis-Taylor, PhD Candidate
• Ryan Hughes, Artistic Director and CEO
• Verity Jackson, Finance Manager
• Sevven Küçük, Operations Director

THANKS:

Coventry Biennial has worked with and been support by the following organisations and groups. We would like to offer them our thanks.

Arts Council England, Coventry UK City of Culture Trust, Art Fund, British Council, Coventry City Council, Coventry University, University of Warwick, Culture Coventry / CV Life, Warwick District Council, Rugby Borough Council, Coventry Cathedral, HMV Empire Coventry, Coventry Artspace, Novus, Michigan Prison Creative Arts Programme, Chisenhale Dance Space, Midlands 4 Cities, Arts and Humanities Research Council, DASH, Talking Birds, Nottingham Contemporary, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, CineCov / Flatpack Projects, You Smart Thing, Electric Zoo, Tate, Arts Council Collection, Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park, New York Folk Art Museum, Stephen Friedman Gallery, Soft Opening, Birmingham Museums Trust, LUX, BBC, Abingdon Studios, Creative Folkestone, Turner Contemporary, New Art West Midlands, International Curators Forum, Artangel, Warwick Art Centre, Culture Ireland, Adam Mickiewicz institute, Pangea Sculptors’ Centre, Axisweb, Fierce Festival, Ghost Town Series, Cork City Council, FabLab Coventry, Crisis UK, The Pod, Fargo Village, Class Room, a-n The Artists Information Company, Meter Rooms, The Tin, Arcade, Flat Time House, Emami Art, Art Riot Collective.