Biennial

A biennial is any event that occurs every other year.  In the art world, it is used to describe large-scale international art exhibitions that generally occur once every two years, but can also refer to more sporadically recurring events.  The Venice Biennal is considered the archetype for such international art events.  It was founded in 1895 as a sort of World’s Fair devoted to contemporary art.  In recent decades, biennials have been hosted in cities around the globe, as a way not only to showcase contemporary art, but also to market and develop cities themselves as sites of global tourism and international cultural investment.