In 1994 the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts decided it need to show off the strength of the local arts community and it launched the Pittsburgh Biennial. Two years ago it expanded to include works at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and this year it has jumped to three new venues. “I think the artistic community has been very strong for many years,” says Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Director Laura Domencic, “I think there has become more and more recognition of how supportive and important this community and the artists are in the region and nationally as well.”The names of all of the artists chosen for the biennial have recently been released.
The Andy Warhol Museum, The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University will also host works as part of the biennial this year. “Each Curator really developed their own kind of distinct show within their space but also in a very strong sense of what is going on in the other venues,” says Domencic.
The works at the Carnegie will explore the idea of work and labor while the works at the Center for the Arts will mostly be installation works focused on using the space in which they are created. All of the artists at the Warhol are women and collaborative projects take the lead at the Miller Gallery. Each curator chose one artists for the show at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
Domencic says the types of work vary as well, “From painters to performance art to filmmakers… it’s a wide variety of artists. The common thread is that all the artists have ties to Pittsburgh.
The exhibitions open in two flights. The shows at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and at Pittsburgh Filmmakers run from June 10th through October 23rd, while the show at the Carnegie Museum of art opens June 17th and runs through September 18th. The second flight comes in September when the shows open at the Miller Gallery and the Andy Warhol Museum.
