


Performance artist Nick Cave presented a work called Herd DAM at Denver Night in Civic Center Park Friday night, July 19, 2013, part of the Biennial of the
Performance artist Nick Cave presented a work called Herd DAM at Denver Night in Civic Center Park Friday night, July 19, 2013, part of the Biennial of the Americas celebration. The piece involves 60 horses that transform into colorful dancers and then back into their original selves. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

It's hard to tell if the biennial, which wrapped Sunday, achieved its very ambitious goal of raising Denver's international profile artistically and intellectually. But it did get people with a little clout to represent our cause. Just assembling the leaders of Google, Qualcomm and Netflix at once is attention-grabbing, and they're the kind of guys with the power to spread the word. Hopefully, they'll Tweet nice things.

No doubt, it helped the reputation of its local backers. Cheerleader-in-chief John Hickenlooper emerged as a guy who knows a good idea when he hears one; the MCA's Adam Lerner as a curator with swell taste and a populist touch; cable businessman Mike Fries, chair of the nonprofit biennial committee and the event's public face, as a businessman who stepped up when civic duty called.

Their success is more important than it sounds. When a group of citizens proclaims itself the standard-bearer of Denver's image and stages a pageant in our name, it had better do a professional job. Screw it up with bad production values and too many self-congratulations, and you ruin us all. Deliver the goods and you set a new standard for serving your city. They delivered.

DENVER, CO. - JULY 19: Dancers jumped in the air in celebration after performing the Nick Cave piece called Herd DAM at the Denver Night in Civic Center
DENVER, CO. - JULY 19: Dancers jumped in the air in celebration after performing the Nick Cave piece called Herd DAM at the Denver Night in Civic Center Park Friday night, July 19, 2013, part of the Biennial of the Americas event. The performance involves 60 horses in a dream-like trot through an imaginary world. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post )

That's not to say that the biennial didn't skirt the edge of good taste at times. Speakers took long turns complimenting each other's vast skills at the start of every event; if one guy was great, the next guy was greater. This actually got weird in the case of Hickenlooper. Periodic nods to his superhero talents were actually programmed into the event and, when they weren't, his buddies went solo. Ken Salazar and Michael Hancock led the coronation.

Reinforcing the idea that this was a dudefest was the roster of renowned world leaders brought in for nightly symposia at the Buell Theater. Of the 15 panelists only three were female. It's not nice to call someone else's behavior bone-headed — unless you've got that kind of math to back it up. That the panels' moderators were mostly female — and included Tina Brown, Arianna Huffington and CNN's Patrica Janiot — only highlighted the problem.

There was greater consistency, and gender parity, sitting around the tables at the "Clinicas," the subject-specific talks held at the History Colorado Center each morning. Though they were invisible to the public, the chats were hives of activity and the level of discussion was high.

On Friday, for example, roughly 75 people who work with schools, governments and nonprofits from places like Chile, Argentina, Mexico and the U.S., shared concerns and cross-border strategies on education. Interpreters with headsets translated, while "graphic recorders" drew diagrams capturing ideas.


Even more intriguing was the cultural programming, engineered by a team, but powered by Lerner. The four large-scale installations called "Draft Urbanism" brought the city something truly rare: an exhibit of built architecture. The pieces remain until Sept. 2, so go see them, especially Pezo von Ellrichshausen's amazing "Mine Pavilion" at Speer Boulevard and Larimer Street.


The cultural stuff was the biennial's biggest hit, though it, too, made some nearly fatal blunders. The "First Draft" exhibit of Colorado artists at the McNichols Building felt like an afterthought, as if someone was covering for the fact that local talent got short shrift and wanted to definitely, positively, undoubtedly show that was not the case. There were also problems with Wednesday's "Canada Night," at Sustainability Park; there was nothing Canadian about it, not even the beer.


There was integrity to spare, though, at the week's best event, Friday's "Denver Night," curated by Chris Kallmyer. The show integrated art, music and performance in a way that keenly captured the biennial's aims. The fare mixed talents local, national and hemispheric, and it stayed true to the idea that art must take itself seriously — until it shouldn't. Artist Nick Cave's dancing horses had everyone moving, and the much-hyped dog opera, a video with live musicians and singers, had us laughing as a group.

It was a weird and arty sort of show business, with long pauses, but the crowd stuck with it. And really, the crowds are what made the biennial a good experience. They weren't overwhelming, but it was an admirable group of thinkers, makers, voters, painters, traders, bikers, beggars, butt-kissers, beer drinkers, caretakers, leaders, future leaders and just plain interesting folk. The MCA's rooftop party Wednesday was the best example. The night was beautiful and so was the architecture and the city overall. People talked art and ideas, and some drank a little too much.

