Brent Biennial

THE FIRST BRENT BIENNIAL – ART PRESENTED IN PUBLIC SPACES, LIBRARIES AND STREETS OF BRENT

The first Brent Biennial in 2020 – which took place during the Covid-19 pandemic – presented over 20 brand new artworks inspired by the cultures, places and people of Brent.

From sculptures to sound art, large-scale murals to intimate installations, Brent Biennial told the stories of Brent then, now and tomorrow – and of the people who have been made and shaped by the borough.

The Biennial took art out of the galleries and museums and into public spaces right across Brent – to be sought out or encountered by chance – on buildings and billboards, in laundrettes and across 10 community and council libraries.

Featuring international and Brent-based artists including Rasheed Araeen, Imran Qureshi, Dawn Mellor, Jude Wacks, Jaykoe, Yasmin Nicholas and Ruth Beale, every work was specially commissioned by and created for Brent 2020 – and all of them could be seen for free.

In collaboration with ArtReview, we also published a series of exclusive online interviews with artists who have worked with and within the libraries to create new work, including Avant-Gardening, John Rogers​, Dawn Mellor​, Ruth Beale, David Blandy and Dan Mitchell​.

You can still download the Brent Biennial leaflet and map to have all the projects in your pocket.

Public Programme Partner ArtReview.

Community and council libraries collaborated with 10 artists to present new commissions, including an interactive sculpture by Rasheed Araeen at Willesden Green Library, a parallel lending library of selected books paired with sculptures by Brian Griffiths at Cricklewood Library, and a large-scale twisted paper installation by Imran Qureshi at Ealing Road Library.

Supported by Art Fund, new commissions by Barby Asante, Adam Farah, Yasmin Nicolas, Dhelia Snoussi and Abbas Zahedi explored personal and collective stories that have shaped Brent’s identity as a place where self-organising is intimately linked to care, community building, and resistance.

Events and artworks centred on the relevance and connection of histories through performance, conversation and film.

The programme featured ambitious co-commissions with leading arts organisations: Camden Art Centre (Paul Purgas); CREATE London (Pio Abad); LUX (Adam Farah), Studio Voltaire and CREATE London (Dawn Mellor).