ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changes in the selection committees and selection processes, and their implications not only for artists and their artworks, or for curatorial teams, but above all for the structure of the Biennale. It outlines characteristics of the selection committees, and how they are restructured all along the Biennale’s cycle. Structural characteristics comprised the selection committee and the application procedures for artists. The new structure consisted of the general secretariat, scientific committee, technical committee and international selection committee. The orientation committee serves as a liaison with the secretary general to manage the Biennale events. The selection sparked angry reactions among Dakar’s artists and art world professionals, when the president of the selection committee, David Elliott, declared the end of painting and the age of installation art. A member of the 2010 selection committee repeatedly asserts that the Comite d’orientation, represented by its president, Gerard Senac, encouraged them to also propose artists of their choice for selection.
