The last three Lyon Biennials of Contemporary Art made up a kind of trilogy on the question of the present. A present awaited, feared, perhaps self-contained; the polymorphous present of the 2007 Biennial, with its 50 curators from all over the world. The issue was to explore the new temporality that marks the societies of our time: that seemingly infinite perpetual present, with no before and no after. This was also the opportunity to look at the system of biennials, their critical function and their contribution to the history of art and of the world.

The 2009 Lyon Biennial inaugurates a second trilogy, focused on history. What is the situation regarding the transmission – the kinship, even – of the art forms and skills, the aesthetics and thinking now emanating from the most distant corners of the planet? These factors signal the end of Western artistic hegemony – yet without detriment to its criteria – as art reaches us from places that never knew the explosion of Western modernity. History and all the diversity and density of its recent manifestations: these are the stakes in the 2009 Biennial, under the curatorship of Catherine David.

Taking advantage of the "Cultural Season of Turkey in France" organised between first of July 2009 and 31 Mars 2010, the Lyon and Istanbul Biennials consolidate the collaboration which started in 2005, renewing operations for the development of media and public exchanges between their two openings of September.

The Cultural Season of Turkey aims at encouraging exchange at all levels and renew dialogue between the two countries, not only in the cultural field, but also in the educational, scientific and academic cooperation besides commercial, tourist and gastronomic areas.

As a matter of historical record, the French Embassy in Turkey was the first permanent diplomatic mission in the world. Obvious signs of the great length and the strength of the relationship between the two countries are still very present and visible in Turkey, whether in the architecture, the arts, literature or education.

The Lyon Biennial is glad to join with the Istanbul Biennial to facilitate your transfers between the two events (details to come later on our websites).

More information on Biennale de Lyon 2009 : www.biennale-de-lyon.org