The Petty Biennial 2

The Petty Biennial.2

"Exodus" Linocut by Carlos Barberena. 2019

"THE PETTY BIENNIAL.2"  Curated by Courtney Cintron, Sabrina Greig, and Adia Sykes

OPENING RECEPTION: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, 5:00PM - 7:00PM
ON VIEW: NOVEMBER 7, 2019 – FEBRUARY 14, 2020
GLASS CURTAIN GALLERY, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, CHICAGO
Gallery Hours: Monday-Wednesday, and Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

With more than 100 biennials and triennials around the world, the large-scale international events have been a valued mode of artistic display in contemporary exhibition practices that have fueled the mass production and consumption of contemporary art. Used as a means to flex global status and distinction, the hegemonic format is a frequent topic of debate and critique. The Petty Biennial.2 is an exhibition project that seeks to challenge and reimagine dominant biennial culture by centering multiple cultural diasporas as a nexus of local exchange and dialogue for marginalized and queer communities.

The Petty Biennial.2 engages with pettiness as an act of seizing agency within the telling of one’s own story. Pettiness is a claiming of space. Pettiness creates a space where one asserts themselves unapologetically, confronting a society that values and privileges whiteness above all, while finding solidarity from a community of peers. Pettiness is therefore a performative gesture that seeks liberation through exposing, and finding humor in oppressive social systems.

The Glass Curtain Gallery will serve as the project’s anchor site, with two satellite locations at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park and NYCH Gallery in Pilsen. The exhibition will feature the work of sixteen participating artists across the disciplines of painting, drawing, printmaking, performance, photography, sculpture, installation, and video.

Participating Artists include: D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem, Alexandria Eregbu, Liz Gomez, Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero, Jesus Hilario, Jennifer Ligaya, Damon Locks, Zakkiyyah Najeebah, Carlos Barberena de la Rocha, Amina Ross, Luis A. Sahagun, Edra Soto, Yasmin Spiro, Raelis Vasquez, Rhonda Wheatley, and Santiago X

The Petty Biennial.2
Glass Curtain Gallery – Columbia College Chicago
1104 S Wabash Ave, 1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60605
November 7, 2019-February 14, 2020
Opening Reception: November 7, 2019 5-7 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Monday-Wednesday, and Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.Thursday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.


Satellite Exhibitions

Heaven Gallery
1550 N Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60622
December 6, 2019-January 19, 2020
Opening Reception: December 6, 7-11 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Friday & Saturday 1-6 p.m.
Sunday 1-5 p.m. or by appointment

NYCH Gallery
2025 S Laflin St, 1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60608
Opening Reception: January 10, 6-10 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.


About The Petty Biennial

The Petty Biennial, co-founded by La Keisha Leek and Sadie Woods, is not a biennial itself, but a curatorial investigation towards queering the canon of traditional biennials. Every two years, the founders pass the curation of the project on to a new team. This exhibition project that complicates dominant narratives of contemporary cultural, social, political norms. Inspired by digital media, this project embodies “petty” or “clapback” culture as a disruption in respectability politics and a performative assertion in the contemporary art world. It is a response to classist views towards communities of color and peripheral art practices. At the intersection of race, gender and sexuality, featured artists showcase a range of regional and national perspectives unique to North and Central America and the Caribbean. In 2017, Leek and Woods worked with academics, cultural producers, and curators to select artists for the inaugural Petty Biennial. The project selected seventeen artists for its exhibition produced Arts + Public Life of the University of Chicago along with an additional nine artists for ancillary programming produced in partnership with The Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, Black Cinema House, and OpenTV.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.