Visitors get up close and personal with contemporary art at the Yinchuan Biennale, a major art event in northwestern China.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A biennial aims to promote international and contemporary art among residents of Northwest China. Lin Qi reports from Yinchuan.

Xie Suchen says she often awoke with anxiety during the eight months of planning the Yinchuan Biennale.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan's artistic director led a young and inexperienced team for the museum's first biennial - an event for which most establishments spend two years preparing.

The MOCA Yinchuan opened a year ago in a commercial compound along the Yellow River, about one hour's drive from the downtown of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region's capital.

"People in Northwest China have the same privileges to enjoy art as people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou," says Xie, who's from Taiwan.

"They're as curious and passionate about art."

She invited Mumbai-based artist Bose Krishnamachari to curate the event. He founded India's first biennial, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, in 2012, that advanced contemporary art in Kochi city.

Xie hopes his experiences can be transplanted in Yinchuan, a critical node of the ancient Silk Road.