Patrick Ciercoles
Director, Marseilles Biennial

It was in Bologna in December 1988 that it first became apparent that Marseilles might host the 5th Biennial. The political situation in the town had been changing since the death of Gaston Defferre who had led the City Council for the past thirty years. A new dynamic organization of the cultural and artistic life of the city was coming into being. After thoroughly analyzing weaknesses, needs and driving forces, listening to the artists and everyone concerned, the City Council established new conditions for the development of cultural activities.
The impact of these initiatives is still being felt today and the Biennial project had become an integral part of this process.
It was possible to form an association of the different leaders in the area of "culture" in order to establish the need to support emerging artists, to open up the Mediterranean area, to reveal the new resources of the town and finally to show how well we could organize and host international events.
Several French towns were candidates and even though the "Phocean" region's proposal held many advantages, the general opinion was not optimistic: the National Front victory was anticipated at the local elections in March 1989.
Discussion was difficult and it was not easy to maintain the debate purely on the technical aspect of our application as our competitors continually and justifiably brought up the political situation. Eventually Marseilles won, but we were all aware that the final decision would be made at the ballot box a few months later.
The strength of our candidature lay in the incredible mobilization of all the cultural and artistic structures and organizations in Marseilles into this project. All of the participants presented for the Biennial were fully involved in this sphere. The exhibitions readily found space in the museums of the town and the shows were welcomed by existing structures and theaters.
The challenge was considerable: the technical equipment and the notoriety of the host organizations demanded of the young prize-winners a great artistic rigor that had not previously been seen as fundamentally important.
The Vieille Charité hosted the bulk of the exhibitions.
The Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre honored the occasion by opening to the public for the Design exhibition. The major theaters (Théâtre National de la Criée, Théâtre du Gymnase) for their part, hosted performances of contemporary music, dance and theater. Those places devoted more to research like the "Bernardines" or the "Minoterie," to quote just a few of the fifteen sites in the center of the city, also presented artists' work.
The initial impact was that for the first time in the history of the Biennial professional curators took over the management of the shows and exhibitions. This desire for a certain professionalism was not the only aspect that Marseilles brought to the event, which until then had only concerned Southern Europe. For the first time the Biennial opened its doors to the towns of Northern Africa, as it also opened up to a new discipline: the culinary arts.
To facilitate contacts between the local population and the artists we drew up agreements with fifteen restaurants that accepted a meal voucher system to welcome them. For ten days the city lived to the rhythm of the Biennial. Its impact in economic terms changed the people of Marseilles' perception of a cultural event and particularly that of the local councillors; the media followed the event closely and thus also contributed considerably.
At the same time, the excitement of the "official" program was enhanced by a host of other events in the "Biennale d'A côté," the fringe activities set up by regional artists not satisfied with being simple spectators.
Other aspects of the Marseilles event should also be mentioned, including the press communication for the event. This was based upon a new logo produced by Llorens Sonsoles from Barcelona and selected by the International Committee following a competition. The visual symbol of this fifth event would accompany it until the establishment of the international association for the BJCEM in 2001. Wide distribution of Biennial "lapel badges" enabled all the participants and spectators to wear the emblem. Finally, the publication of a daily paper based on the Biennial, Ephémère ou FMR kept us all up to date with reviews, interviews and programs. But the impact was most felt by the artists. Several of those selected for Marseilles were later invited by foreign art event organizers to show their work abroad. This phenomenon was not new, the city of Marseilles had already set up residencies for artists noticed at the previous events in Bologna and Barcelona.
This publication will bring a new light to the development and communication of the event which should raise the Biennial to the level of the major European art events capable of mobilizing an even greater number of organizers; and may those who have taken up this initiative be thanked.