Biennale de la Biche: An Ephemeral Art Event on a Disappearing Caribbean Island

Curators Alex Urso and Maess Anand launched the first edition of Biennale de la Biche on January 6, 2017, on Îlet La Biche, a tiny uninhabited island in Guadeloupe that is gradually sinking due to rising sea levels. The biennial features fourteen international artists whose works are designed to degrade and disappear in situ, embracing the island's natural rhythms and its inevitable submersion. Urso, an Italian artist and independent curator based in Warsaw, and Anand, a Polish painter, conceived the event as a critical alternative to mainstream art fairs, deliberately choosing a remote location far from cultural centers. The artists include Karolina Bielawska, Norbert Delman, Michal Frydrych, Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson, Maess, Ryts Monet, Jérémie Paul, Lukasz Ratz, Lapo Simeoni, Saku Soukka, Aleksandra Urban, Yaelle Wisznicki Levi, Alex Urso, and Zuza Ziołkowska-Hercberg. The curators emphasize the ecological theme not as moralizing but as a poetic acceptance of environmental collapse. The works, small to medium in size, will be left to decay, with few visitors—mostly tourists and sea turtles—reaching the island annually. The project echoes earlier Italian site-specific initiatives like Montecristo Project and Treti Galaxie, questioning the role of audience and the market-driven art world.