CAN and FRONT Triennials Both Shut Down After Staging 2018 and 2022 Events

After two impressive events that presented local, national and international art exhibits and installation and special events across northeast Ohio, FRONT International Triennial, founded by Cleveland art collector/ philanthropist Fred Bidwell, has pulled the plug. Planning for the third iteration in 2025 was already underway and has been ended.

“FRONT will cancel its planned 2025 edition and will permanently wind down operations,” it announced in a statement February 9, citing increased difficulties in fundraising.

“A realistic analysis of the support FRONT 2025 can gain from local, regional, and national funders has led the FRONT board to conclude that it is impossible to produce FRONT 2025 at the same high standards it established for its prior editions,” the statement said. “The board of FRONT made this decision 18 months before the planned opening of 2025, at a time when it would soon be necessary to enter into agreements with artists and partners for the 2025 exhibition. Our priority is to ensure that we do not risk the investment our funders and supporters have made or disappoint artists and audiences with an exhibition that is less than their expectations.”

The first event took place in 2018 and featured wonderful art in both expected and unexpected places. Highlights included Dawoud Bey’s Night Coming Tenderly, Black, a series of photos that projected what escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad would have seen on their journey north, installed in St. John’s Church in Ohio, one of the final stops on the Underground Railroad; and Yinka Shonibare’s staggering installation “The American Library,” at the downtown branch of the Cleveland Public Library. And I still think about Cyprien Gaillard’s 3D film Nightlife, shown at moCa Cleveland, constantly.

Yinka Shonibare’s “The American Library”

The second edition, called “Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows,” was scheduled for 2021, but due to the pandemic, didn’t happen until 2022. While less impressive than the first, it still had numerous high points such as Julie Mehretu’s “Portals” at the Cleveland Museum of Art, inspired by the museum’s collection.

A few days after the FRONT announcement, we learned that the CAN Triennial, sponsored by the local visual art publication CAN (Cleveland Arts Network) Journal, which took place during both FRONT events to showcase local artists, had decided to cancel its event as well, a decision made even before the FRONT cancellation was official. Apparently, the writing was on the wall. It’s a sad loss for Cleveland at a time when the cohort of visual artists at all career stages has never been larger and stronger.

First CAN Triennial at 78th Street Studios

Post categories:

Leave a Reply

[fbcomments]