Biennales
Biennales
Programs
Independent. Contemporary. Art
OFF-Biennale Budapest 2015
The first OFF-Biennale was initiated in the autumn of 2013 by a dozen art professionals, without any institutional or financial backing. By the time of the opening, hundreds had joined the initiative, including artists and artist groups, curators, non-profit venues, commercial galleries, civil organizations, private supporters, collectors, and volunteers open to culture.
This grassroots initiative, built on collaboration among actors of the Hungarian contemporary art scene, aimed to respond to the state of domestic cultural policy and the discouraging condition of the art institutional system, and to lay the foundations for an independent, diverse visual arts scene.
GAUDIOPOLIS − The city of joy
OFF-Biennale Budapest 2017
In 2017, OFF-Biennale opted for a frame narrative that made it possible to address essential and exciting questions that determine past and future alike, and to discover the liberating power of art while taking possession of the city in various ways. The point of departure was the Gaudiopolis Children’s Republic (1945–1950) founded by Lutheran pastor Gábor Sztehlo in Budapest after the Second World War. The young residents of Gaudiopolis, “the city of joy,” established their own government, elected representatives from their own circles, and made laws that pertained to all. As a materialized utopia, it functioned in the spirit of hope, trust, sympathy, generosity, responsibility, perseverance, courage, and care.
Inhale!
OFF-Biennale Budapest 2021
When we chose the 1935 poem “A Breath of Air!” as our point of departure for the third edition of OFF-Biennale, originally planned for Spring 2020, little did we know what new layers of meaning our title would gain throughout the year 2020. Nor did we suspect that we would have to postpone the biennale by an entire year on account of a global pandemic. Since then we have witnessed the agony of millions fighting for their lives gasping for air. Meanwhile the outcry “I can’t breathe!”—the last words of Eric Garner, Javier Ambler, Manuel Ellis, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd, killed in the US by brutal police–violence—has become one of the most important slogans of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The program of the 2021 OFF-Biennale was built around complex projects initiated by groups of creators from diverse backgrounds. These groups produced works spanning multiple artistic disciplines and cultural fields, critically engaging with the present while exploring future possibilities and offering proposals or visions for what lies ahead.
OFF at documenta fifteen
OFF was invited to join thirteen other organisations in the core team of the so-called ‘international lumbung’ for the 2022 edition of documenta (documenta fifteen), which took place in Kassel, Germany, from June to September 2022. This team was assembled by the ruangrupa collective who served as the artistic direction of that edition of documenta. In the years leading up to the exhibition, they travelled extensively around the world, inviting actors of the art world to become part of an ecosystem based on the so called ‘lumbung’ methodology. The Indonesian ruangrupa is an art collective whose practice is grounded in the concept of ‘lumbung’, a model defined by resource sharing and community. With the involvement of other organisations, they have been attempting to expand this operating model into an interlocal lumbung network that can ensure the sustainability of various local and international collaborations and organisations beyond documenta 2022.
Poems of Unrest
OFF-Biennale Budapest 2025
In 2025, the OFF-Biennale celebrated its tenth anniversary, with the 5th jubilee edition focusing on the concept of security. As multiple crises intensify and converge—fueled by far-right political agendas, wars, the cost-of-living and housing crises, and the anthropogenic climate crisis—we find ourselves on shifting ground, grappling with persistent feelings of unrest and anxiety. The title of the Biennale, Poems of Unrest, references a work by artist and activist Robert Gabris, which introduces new techniques for collective productivity and imagination to help navigate the present.
Our fate, as social beings, is inextricably linked to the world around us—human and non-human alike. In this context, how can we build and sustain meaningful connections, develop inclusive political and social agendas, amplify often unheard voices, and foster resilience and cooperation in times of insecurity?
