Introduction

The Anren Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition held in the historic town of Anren, located approximately 40 kilometers from Chengdu in China's Sichuan Province. Established in 2017, the biennale takes advantage of Anren's unique architectural heritage—with its preserved Republican-era buildings, former ancestral halls, and converted industrial spaces—to create a distinctive platform for contemporary artistic expression within a historically significant context.

Organized by the OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) Chengdu in partnership with local cultural authorities, the Anren Biennale has quickly established itself as an important event in China's growing contemporary art landscape. The biennale brings together artists from China and around the world, fostering dialogue between local traditions and global contemporary practices while exploring pressing social, political, and cultural issues.

Narrative & Themes

The Anren Biennale consistently engages with themes that bridge China's complex history with contemporary global concerns. Located in a town known as "the museum town" for its numerous historical sites and memorial halls—including the Jianchuan Museum Complex, China's largest private museum—the biennale uses this rich historical context as both backdrop and material for contemporary artistic reflection.

Each edition of the biennale develops around a central theme that responds to current social and cultural conditions while maintaining connections to local histories and traditions. Previous editions have explored concepts such as the relationship between tradition and innovation, rural and urban development, collective memory, technological transformation, and imagined futures.

The biennale emphasizes site-specificity, encouraging artists to create works that respond directly to Anren's unique architectural environments and historical narratives. This approach creates meaningful dialogue between contemporary artistic practices and China's cultural heritage, offering visitors multi-layered experiences that bridge past and present.

History & Context

The inaugural Anren Biennale, held in 2017, was established as part of China's growing network of art biennials and triennials that have emerged in cities beyond the traditional art centers of Beijing and Shanghai. Anren was selected as the site for this new biennial due to its unique preservation of Republican-era (1912-1949) architecture and its existing cultural infrastructure, including the Jianchuan Museum Complex founded by prominent collector Fan Jianchuan.

The town of Anren itself carries significant historical weight, having been the seat of the Liu family, prominent landlords during the late Qing Dynasty and Republican period. The town's preserved mansions, ancestral halls, and former industrial buildings provide distinctive exhibition spaces that contrast with the white cube galleries of conventional art institutions, offering both opportunities and challenges for contemporary artists.

Exhibition Venues

The Anren Biennale utilizes multiple venues throughout the historic town, transforming Republican-era mansions, ancestral halls, former industrial spaces, and public areas into exhibition sites. The Jianchuan Museum Complex, with its multiple museum buildings dedicated to various aspects of Chinese history, serves as one of the primary venues, alongside the OCAT Chengdu Art Space established specifically for the biennale.

Additional exhibition sites include the Liu Family Mansion, the Anren Studio (a converted industrial space), and various public spaces throughout the town. This distributed exhibition model encourages visitors to explore Anren's architectural heritage while encountering contemporary art in unexpected contexts, creating juxtapositions between historical settings and forward-looking artistic practices.