# Bombay Beach Biennale

The Bombay Beach Biennale (BBB) is an annual art event held in Bombay Beach, California on the Salton Sea in the lowest community in the United States. It was co-founded by Tao Ruspoli, Stefan Ashkenazy, and Lily Johnson White in 2016. The event features both temporary pieces and permanent installations such as the Hermitage Museum (designed by Greg Haberny), Bombay Beach Opera House (designed by James Ostrer), and a drive-in theater.
The BBB avows itself as a "renegade celebration of art, music, and philosophy that takes place on the literal edge of western civilization." It involves a seasonal dimension, during which numerous artists and participants gather and stay in town for several months each year while they collaborate on art and events, and it culminates in a celebratory weekend. The precise dates of the celebratory culmination are shared only with people who are actively participating in or contributing to its happening. There are no fees or tickets required to attend.
In connection with the BBB, the town and beach of Bombay Beach have become increasingly populated with a variety of permanent art installations, or as permanent as the punishing environmental conditions will allow. The BBB of 2023 saw the premiere of the Bombay Beach Lit Fest, which was inaugurated by writers Gina Frangello and Rob Roberge.
Roaming the streets of Bombay Beach during the BBB, you might encounter world-class opera, musical theatre, jazz bands, acrobats, poetry readings and writings, uncategorizable performance artists, fashion shows, dance clubs audaciously dug into the dirt, dance clubs lovingly installed into the shell of a broken building and serving tea, fire-art installations, countless sculptures and site-specific installations, surrealist peep shows, as well as "environmental chats on the future of the Salton Sea, circus acts, film screenings, eclectic musical improvisations, and all-night dancing."
The celebratory weekend also includes a philosophy conference with major scholars from universities such as Oxford, Harvard and more, as well as activists, artists, writers, and independent researchers presenting on topics related to the festival's themes. Past speakers have included Geoff Dyer, Eric Kaplan, Christia Mercer, Robert Pippin, Samantha Matherne, Kim Stringfellow, Iain Thomson, and Mark Wrathall (who is also the Director of Philosophical Operations of the BBB).
Attendees gather for philosophical dialogue in a dilapidated building open to the elements, windows and doors long ago obliterated, covered in graffiti and the traces of bygone art installations. Philosophy talks also take place at night, sometimes in the presence of a gigantic sculpture wrestling with nihilism, or in the midst of other site-specific art installations. The distinctive local forces of erosion and decay, and the possibility of art as a saving power, often frame the philosophical conversations along with the overarching themes of each year.
The philosophy conference of the BBB takes place in collaboration with The Bombay Beach Institute (BBI), a multidisciplinary cultural and intellectual organization also located in Bombay Beach.

## Themes

In 2016, the theme was "The Art of Decay".
In 2017, the theme was "The Way the Future Used to Be".
In 2018, the theme was "God’s Silence".
In 2019, the topic was “Post-Modernism”.
In 2020, activities were postponed due to COVID 19.
In 2021, the Biennale’s theme was “More Minimalism”, and the event was expanded into an entire season rather than a single weekend, with artists encouraged to live within the community full time for part of the year.
In 2022, the theme of the Biennale Season was “Questioning Hierarchy”.
In 2023, the theme was “Chaos Theory”.
In 2024, the theme was "White Gold", owing to abundant lithium reserves in the region.