The 18th edition of the Lyon Biennale of contemporary art has launched under the artistic direction of Isabelle Bertolotti, who appointed curator Catherine Nichols for her distinct perspective. Operating under the title “To pass from one dream to another”—a phrase borrowed from Walter Benjamin—the exhibition runs through December 13 and spans multiple historic and industrial venues across the French city. Nichols, an Australian-born curator based in Berlin and working at Hamburger Bahnhof, has woven international perspectives into the city’s fabric, drawing heavily on her knowledge of art from Oceania and framing the works through a conceptual lens she describes as a “poetic economy.”
Taking inspiration from Lyon’s historical identity as a center of trade and its signature traboules passageways, Nichols incorporated the city’s psychogeography into an exhibition featuring 119 participating artists. The roster includes 68 percent women and 32 percent men, a gender imbalance for which Bertolotti offered an apology during the opening press speech. Additionally, 29 percent of the participating artists are French, and 23 percent are under the age of 35. Rather than segregating artists by region, Nichols integrated creators from Oceania and other global regions directly into broader dialogues concerning consumption, commodification, and industry. The Biennale features 65 new creations and 12 adaptations, with artists invited to respond to Lyon as a city rather than serve a strict thematic script.
The massive industrial spaces of Les Grandes Locos, a 19th-century structure formerly operated by the French National Railway Company, house some of the Biennale’s largest installations. The exhibition opens with a multimedia installation by Laure Prouvost designed to emulate the interior of a whale’s belly, complete with scattering debris and expanding and contracting elements. Nearby, Madagascar-born Joël Andrianomearisoa deployed 44 kilometers of material in a towering textile torrent of ropes suspended from the high ceiling. Ghanaian artist Akwasi Bediako Afrane addresses digital consumption and swift obsolescence in Cerberus T-26 Dance of Dialogue, repurposing accumulated electronic waste into wire tentacles.
Other notable works at Les Grandes Locos include New Zealand-born Sriwhana Spong’s massive silk swathe dyed in Fanta, and Indonesian-born Candrani Yulis’s textile installation Placing Bets Beyond the Line of Faith, which uses hijab fabric suspended on hangers in a spinal structure. The collective raumlaborberlin constructed a grotto-like enclave using 120 metric tons of compressed paper strips packaged like hay bales. The exit route guides visitors past Dutch artist Mette Sterre’s absurdist workplace installation featuring performers in office attire with clusters of uncooked spaghetti in place of human heads amid calculating machines and water coolers.
Across town, the 19th-century Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs provides a more modest scale after reopening specifically for the Biennale while otherwise closed for renovations. In its courtyard, Berlin-based duo EVA & ADELE stationed a Pepto-Bismol pink Peugeot Boxer van containing Polaroids and fake flowers. Inside, Australian-born Ida Lawrence exhibits wry cartoons drawn on grit sandpaper, while Mikhail Karikis presents a six-channel video featuring a chorus of 52 teenagers chanting about human connection. Argentinian artist Mercedes Azpilicueta contributes a hands-on installation featuring accessories like paper masks and bells that visitors are encouraged to touch.
at macLYON, the contemporary art museum designed by Renzo Piano, Ouassila Arras exhibits heaped rugs unraveling across the gallery floor to explore Franco-Algerian histories, while Spanish artist Álvaro Urbano created a Narnia-like peephole through a destroyed wall. These contemporary works are interspersed with natural history artifacts from the Musée des Confluences, including mummified cats and stuffed owls. Additional works are displayed at the Institute of Contemporary Art, featuring Estonian artist Katariin Mudist’s doorstopper-themed installation and Swedish artist Maja Fredin’s latex sculptures and miniature skeletons built from chicken bones.
While select site-specific installations at the LPA Saint-Antoine Car Park and the Part-Dieu Metro Station offer single-work displays, the core of the Biennale remains anchored in its major architectural venues. Nichols’s curation relies heavily on the prominent platform given to Indigenous creators, female artists, and voluminous, maximalist installations that leverage Lyon’s industrial history.
