Conversation & Book Signing with Paloma Checa-Gismero

Paloma Checa-Gismero, author of Biennial Boom: Making Contemporary Art Global, is joined by leading historians of contemporary and Latin American art Tatiana Flores and Miriam M. Basilio Gaztambide to unpack how contemporary art biennials became the defining events of the global art world in the 20th century. They will discuss how biennials shaped contemporary art, how they relate to their host cities, and how Checa-Gismero’s book contributes to the discipline of art history within and beyond the classroom.
After the conversation, guests are invited to attend a book signing and small reception in the Lower Level Lobby.
About the Book
In Biennial Boom, Checa-Gismero examines the early iterations of three well-known biennials—Bienal de La Habana, inSITE, and Manifesta—and shows how these events reflected a post-Cold War optimism for a world in which artistic and knowledge production could mend social, political, and cultural divisions. Checa-Gismero outlines how early biennials set the basis for what is now recognized as “global contemporary art” and analyzes how the contemporary art world became the exclusionary, rarified institution of today.