Gallery dealers and biennials: participating without being in the official selection

01Understanding a biennial's ecosystem

A biennial is not an isolated event. It generates an entire ecosystem extending well beyond the walls of the main exhibition. Venice provides the most striking example. The Venice Biennale itself unfolds between the Giardini and the Arsenale, but during the months of its run the entire city transforms into one immense exhibition. Palaces, churches, foundations, local galleries, alternative spaces and pop-up venues host hundreds of collateral exhibitions and associated events. The Pinault Foundation at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana programmes major shows during the Biennale. Fondazione Prada, the Berggruen Foundation and many other private institutions occupy temporary spaces for presentations that sometimes rival the official selection in ambition.

It is within this peripheral ecosystem that the dealer finds opportunity. Collectors who travel for the Biennale do not spend all their time in national pavilions or the international exhibition. They roam the city, discover unexpected shows, encounter artists they did not know. The dealer who manages to position within this environment benefits from a flow of qualified visitors that no art fair can match in terms of quality and curiosity.

02Organising a collateral exhibition

The collateral exhibition, or parallel event, is the most direct strategy. During the Venice Biennale, galleries such as Galleria Continua have established the practice of staging exhibitions in remarkable Venetian venues. Galleria Continua, whose historic base is San Gimignano, has for years used a space in Venice to present its artists during the Biennale, attracting an international audience that might not otherwise visit San Gimignano. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has regularly organised presentations in Venice during the Biennale, echoing or counterpointing the official selection.

The choice of venue is decisive. A historic palazzo lends the exhibition an architectural prestige that most gallery spaces cannot offer. The confrontation between contemporary art and Venetian architecture creates an experience for the visitor that surpasses simple contemplation of works. Some dealers collaborate with local cultural institutions to secure spaces on favourable terms. Others lease commercial premises and transform them for the occasion, an investment that is substantial but potentially very rewarding in terms of visibility and sales.

The logistics of a collateral exhibition in Venice are particularly demanding. Water transport, installation constraints in historic buildings, administrative permits, specific insurance: everything is more complicated and costly than elsewhere. A dealer embarking on this adventure for the first time would be well advised to rely on experienced local service providers and on the network of Venetian galleries familiar with the city's mechanisms.

03Activating your network during the event

The dealer's physical presence during a biennial's opening days is an investment in itself. Openings, dinners, cocktails and collector tours organised by major galleries and foundations offer opportunities to meet professionals in a less formal context than a fair. In Venice, the preview days are particularly intense. A dealer who hosts dinner at a Venetian restaurant for collectors and a few strategic guests creates an informal encounter where business discussions arise naturally.

Galerie Kamel Mennour is known for its social events during major biennials and fairs, creating convivial occasions that strengthen collector ties and attract new contacts. Galerie Lelong regularly organises guided biennial tours for its collectors, accompanied by one of its artists or a curator, offering a privileged experience that builds loyalty.

The dealer can also take advantage of the biennial to arrange meetings with museum curators who are present in number. An informal coffee meeting during which the dealer presents an artist's work to a curator may lead to an institutional exhibition several months later. The concentration of professionals during a biennial makes such encounters happen naturally, whereas they would require weeks of email exchanges under normal circumstances.

04Regional biennials as a springboard

The Venice Biennale is the most prestigious, but also the most competitive and expensive. Regional biennials offer opportunities that are often more accessible for mid-sized galleries. The Lyon Biennale, the Istanbul Biennial, the Gwangju Biennale, the Havana Biennial, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India and the Sharjah Biennial attract an international professional audience that is admittedly smaller than Venice's but often more available and open to discovery.

Galerie Mor Charpentier, based in Paris and Bogota, has built part of its reputation through active participation in the ecosystem of Latin American biennials, where it accompanies its artists in parallel exhibitions and networking events. Galerie In Situ Fabienne Leclerc has positioned itself within the terrain of African and Asian biennials, forging connections with art scenes that major European galleries still largely overlook.

For the dealer who cannot afford a collateral exhibition in Venice, regional biennials provide a testing ground at lower cost. Organising an artist presentation event during the Lyon Biennale, in a partner venue in the city, costs a fraction of the same operation in Venice while still providing access to a significant audience of professionals and collectors.

05Accompanying a selected artist

When an artist represented by the gallery is selected for a biennial, the dealer holds a considerable asset. They are not in the selection, but their artist is, which legitimises their presence and gives them a reason to invite collectors to see the work on show. The gallery becomes the go-to source for collectors who, having seen the artist's work in the biennial, wish to acquire a piece.

Galerie Chantal Crousel has leveraged its artists' biennial selections to strengthen their market. When one of its artists is shown at the Venice Biennale or Documenta, the gallery organises collector visits, publishes dedicated press dossiers and offers works related to the exhibited piece. The institutional visibility of the biennial thus converts into commercial opportunities for the gallery.

The dealer must, however, take care not to instrumentalise the selection too visibly. Biennial curators are attentive to the non-commercial dimension of their project, and a dealer distributing business cards at the foot of their artist's work in the central pavilion of the Venice Biennale would be poorly regarded. The art lies in being present, available and informed without ever giving the impression of turning a curatorial event into a sales operation.

06Creating synergies with concurrent fairs

Some biennials coincide with art fairs, creating a concentration of events that amplifies opportunities. During the Venice Biennale, galleries participating in fairs such as miart in Milan or Artissima in Turin coordinate their programming to offer collectors a coherent journey between the biennial and the fair. Galleria Massimo De Carlo, headquartered in Milan, exploits this geographic proximity by programming exhibitions that dialogue with Biennale themes while participating in Milanese fairs.

In Basel, Art Basel sometimes coincides with major curatorial events in the city's museums, creating a similar ecosystem. The dealer who plans the annual calendar with these overlaps in mind can maximise the impact of travel and investment. Galerie Nathalie Obadia, a regular Art Basel participant, coordinates its fair presentations with organised visits to Basel museum exhibitions, offering collectors a comprehensive cultural programme extending beyond the fair itself.

The dealer can also exploit biennial-fair synergies by organising private presentations in a hotel or rented space. These temporary viewing rooms, which have multiplied in recent years, allow works to be shown in an intimate context, away from the crowds of public events, creating conditions conducive to sales.

07Communication around the biennial

Presence at a biennial must be supported by appropriate communication. The dealer organising a collateral exhibition or parallel event must invest in advance communication to attract visitors. Social media, targeted newsletters to collectors and professionals, press relations with specialist media and partnerships with other galleries and institutions present on site are all levers to activate.

Galerie Templon, during its Venetian presentations, deploys communication that combines personalised invitations to collectors, social media announcements and partnerships with specialist media. This targeted approach ensures the right people know about the gallery's presence and programming.

The dealer should also document the biennial presence through photographs, videos and testimonials that will feed communication in subsequent weeks and months. A quality photographic report on a collateral exhibition can be used in press kits, on the gallery website and in presentations to new collectors, extending the initial investment's impact well beyond the event's duration.

08Measuring return on investment

The return on investment of a biennial strategy is difficult to measure precisely. Direct sales during the event are only part of the benefit. The visibility gained, contacts established, institutional relationships formed and reputation built within the professional community are intangible assets whose effects manifest over the medium and long term.

The dealer should keep a precise record of contacts made during each biennial, meetings secured with curators, collectors encountered and resulting sales, even several months later. This traceability allows comparison of the biennial strategy's cost with the results obtained, and adjustment of the approach from one edition to the next. It is useful to distinguish direct returns, meaning sales made during or immediately after the event, from indirect returns, which include new relationships, institutional projects initiated and reputation gained within the professional community.

The budget devoted to the biennial strategy should be assessed against alternatives. The cost of a collateral exhibition in Venice is comparable to, or even lower than, participation in a top-tier international fair, but the returns in terms of prestige and institutional visibility are often superior. A dealer weighing an additional fair against biennial presence should carefully consider the advantages of each option in light of medium-term strategic objectives.

For galleries present on Artedusa, biennials offer the opportunity to direct new contacts toward the platform, where collectors met in person can discover the gallery's full programme and access available works without waiting for the next event.