Biennial/Biennale is a term or a form of large exhibition popular over the recent decades, referring to an event taking place every two years. It was born in the end of 19th century in Venice, hailed as a carnival by the art scene. It established a platform for those involved in the art circle to compare and contrast arts produced worldwide, which is also known as the Olympics of art world. It implies a professional, strong meaning. Or rather, it is a venue that gives voice to art and the world trends without limit to medium, interdisciplinary, and experimental, dialectical over knowledge and ideas, and issue-oriented in terms of curatorial practice. After going viral in recent years, watercolor went for biennial as well.
This year, a total of 35 watercolorists were invited to this exhibition: 18 artists from Taiwan and 17 international artists from Australia, UK, Sweden, China, USA, Italy, Russia, Japan, Poland, India, and Republic of Moldova. The Department of Cultural Affairs, Taoyuan holds various watercolor activities. Furthermore, their renaming of this international watercolor exhibition taking place every other year as “biennial” signals their ambition for a sustainable promotion. Flowing Water – Taoyuan International Watercolor Biennial is the largest sustainable watercolor art event in Taiwan to date.
藝術雙年展（Biennial）是近幾十年大型展覽常見的樣態，泛指2年舉辦1次的活動，由威尼斯於19世紀末拉開序幕，被藝術界譽為嘉年華盛會。雙年展為參與者建立一個平臺，對比世界各地創造的藝術，又稱「藝術奧林匹克」（Olympics of art world），是世界潮流及藝術話語權的發言場域，帶有專業、主流的意義，常見不限媒材、跨域與實驗、知識概念的思辨，並以議題化作為策展的方向。近年水彩掀起世界熱潮，值此蓬勃發展之際，加入了雙年展的行列。
今年「活水—桃園國際水彩雙年展」邀請35位水彩藝術家展出：臺灣藝術家18位，國際藝術家17位，分別來自澳洲、英國、瑞典、中國、美國、義大利、俄羅斯、日本、波蘭、印度及摩爾多瓦共和國。桃園市政府文化局舉辦眾多水彩活動，甚至將此2年1度的國際水彩展活動名稱訂為「雙年展」，標註要持續推廣的理想。「活水—桃園國際水彩雙年展」，迄今是臺灣最具規模且延續性的水彩藝術活動。
