HAPPY PLACE takes Freiburg’s symbolic identity as “the south of Germany” as a starting point to explore the economy of wanderlust and the semiotics of the picturesque. The title, capitalized, toxic, and performative, references the concept of “cruel optimism” — or how the idealization of a perfect escape is stringently upheld in the midst of precarity and everyday crisis. 

From sunset backdrops framed by palm trees, to iconic landmarks, to picturesque villages and the staging of their local traditions, tourism operates as a business fueled by the promise of happiness, escapism, and the thrill of discovery. In this cartography of desires, "the south" is often framed as an object of longing, closely tied to romanticized and exoticized images of "paradise." Yet tourism generates the significant transformation of these very destinations. Given its far-reaching impacts on economies, environments, and political structures, as well as its influence on social dynamics, tourism must be examined as a multidimensional phenomenon.

The Biennale für Freiburg 3 presents artworks that focus on the enduring links between colonialism and the global travel industry, emphasizing the process of touristification in the so-called Global South. To interrogate how "the south" is staged as a site of touristic fantasies, as well as to highlight the material consequences of these imaginations, the Biennale invites local and international artists to examine geopolitical entanglements, power structures, and the longing for elsewhere. Their artworks and artistic proposals are acts of resistance against constructed notions of otherness, and offer a platform for emancipatory counter-narratives.

Through a range of formats—a city-wide exhibition, performative city tours, a symposium, and mediation programs—the Biennale opens up new perspectives on the travel experience and its historical as well as contemporary dynamics. The aim is to reflect on tourism all its contradictions while reimagining tourists not as consumers but as political subjects.

The Biennale für Freiburg 3 is curated by Lorena Juan.