Fiction As Fiction (Or, a Ninth Johannesburg Biennale)

The idea of a fictional biennale is a potentially rewarding one when examining the history and impact of the Johannesburg Biennale. Its second edition, organised by Okwui Enwezor in 1997, was also its last. With the exhibition's closure, South Africa witnessed a temporary end to the presentation of international contemporary art within its borders. How would (local) art history have been altered if the Johannesburg Biennale had not closed down? What if we imagine there was a third incarnation in 1999? A fourth in 2001? A fifth, after some delay, in 2004?
What if the ninth Johannesburg Biennale were slated to take place at the end of 2012? What might the biennale be about? Which artists might be in the show? In asking these kinds of questions, one invites responses that are in essence fictional. Perhaps, then, there is no better subject for a fictional biennale than fiction itself.
Fiction is a meaningful term, and describes something quite specific: stories that are not a description of reality, but spring from the mind of an author (or authors). Yet, even from this wording, it becomes clear that fiction's edges are permeable. Fiction relies on reality for its significance - the idea of fiction only makes sense in relation to a notion of truth, or reality. In literature, there seems to be no concise term for 'non-fiction', which, as a result, has to be defined by its opposite. Moreover, narrative and the archive are the essential tools of the academic discipline of history, yet the exact same tools are central to the creation of fiction. Our understandings of historical events like the 1997 Johannesburg Biennale are pieced together from a collection of stories, told by individuals with fallible memories and vested interests. Might our understanding of 1997, then, be in essence a fiction?
The backbone of literature, fiction has in recent years become a more visible presence in contemporary art, perhaps influenced by the narrative capabilities of 'new' media. Fiction as Fiction (or, A Ninth Johannesburg Biennale) brings together the work of 10 international artists who employ and interrogate fiction in their work. Together, they give a glimpse of what a ninth Johannesburg Biennale might have looked like. Which, in the absence of a real one, will have to do.
Artists to be included are Yto Barrada, Yael Bartana, Stan Douglas, Robin Rhode, Penny Siopis and Kemang Wa Lehulere, among others.
The Trade Routes Project commenced with Trade Routes Over Time, which presented artists who participated in the original biennale, including Pierre Huyghe, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Wangechi Mutu, Stan Douglas, Olafur Eliasson and Yinka Shonibare. If a tree..., the second installment, took place at Stevenson Johannesburg and looked at the effect of the biennale on local artists such as Robin Rhode and Nicholas Hlobo. At the end of the project, Stevenson will publish a catalogue of writing on and images of the 1997 biennale, as well as the three shows organised during this year.