Biennial of Valencia

Biennial of Valencia is the first international event dedicated to communication between different creative contemporary languages, including fashion. It presents only new projects, studied and carried out around a central idea every other year. It is sponsored by the Generalidad Valenciana and directed by Luigi Settembrini. The first Biennal took place in June 2001 and it was dedicated to the Passions. It opened with an event at the Fura dels Baus with clothes and costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Valentino, and Issey Miyake, among others. The main theme, interpreted by 150 of the most important artists of the time, connects the exhibits curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, Peter Greenway, Emir Kusturica, Mladen Materic, Droog Design, Robert Wilson, Robin Rimbaud, Shiro Takatani, David Pérez, and Santiago Calatrava. There were 250,000 visitors and the event was mentioned 950,000 by critics in various media. In June 2003, the second Biennial, on the theme of The Ideal City, presented 13 different events. There were five exhibits, organized by Lorand Hegyi, William Alsop and Bruce Mclean, Mike Figgis, Sebastiao Salgado, Francisco Jaurauta and Jean Luis Maubant. There was social project by Vincente Guallart, and two communications projects by Rafael Sierra. There were five theater events presented together with the City of Stage Arts, directed by Irene Papas: the world premiere of Your Hand in Mine by Carol Rocamora, directed by Peter Brook, with Natasha Perry and Michel Piccoli; Barbaric Comedies by Valle-Inclan; a trilogy directed by Bigas Luna; Lysistrata by Aristophanes, with music by Carles Santos and costumes by Francis Montesino. At the second Biennial of Valencia the participants included architects and designers such as Frank Geary, Toyo Ito, Nigel Coates, Rem Koolhaas, and Vito Acconci, and artists such as Miguel Navarro, Marina Abramovic, Anne and Patrick Poirier, Wim Wenders, Sonja Kim, Clay Setter, Betrand Lavier, Piero Castellini, Pascal Pinaud, Wim Delvoye, Richard Noonas, Maurizio Nannucci, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Teresa Chaffer and Gloria Friedman, among others.