THE BIENNIAL FORMAT may exert a more decisive influence on the field of contemporary art than any other kind of exhibition today, but such shows are also regularly criticized on account of their instrumentalization in the service of both cultural and local political agendas. Noting that this type of large-scale show tends to prioritize post-Conceptual and lens-based practices that engage the historical, economic, and (geo-)political resonances of specific sites in a particular city or region, Julian Stallabrass, in Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art (2004), goes so far as to argue

Warren Neidich’s recent solo show in Berlin, “Each Rainbow Must Retain the Chromatic Signature, it . . . ,” comprised a triad of painting, sculpture, and installation that playfully pointed out the conditions of perception and the ways it can be manipulated and controlled. The exhibition included “Rainbow Brushes,” 2007–2008, a series of nine oversize paintbrushes that each feature a different sequence of colors, all taken from famous paintings throughout European art history. Neidich places the matching pigment on a piece of paper laid flat on the ground, then pulls a brush through it, leaving