Globalization is all the buzz, but technology can only maintain so much sense of connection. A true feeling of worldly connectedness can come from understanding a culture and its people.

This sense of connection is being undertaken in Paraguay’s mission, with the aid of Wichita State art history professor Royce Smith.

The importance and relevancy of contemporary art hasn’t really been emphasized in Paraguay. As a result, the country doesn’t have a commercial art gallery scene.

“It makes Paraguay’s visibility and its voice in the art world really challenging,” Smith said.

Smith has been working with about 50 Paraguayans to form the foundations of an art biennial. This will be a platform to showcase the art of the country’s culture.

Instead of showcasing art in the museum or galleries, it will be installed in abandoned houses, parks, train stations, restaurants and markets.

Smith is in the works of planning the event for October 2015. The goal is to have 100 artists between 31 venues through Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay. Artists will be coming from all over the Americas, including Kansas.

“A lot of the conceptual framework is based on the fact that we live in an increasingly globalized world,” Smith said. “We frequently talk about the world or worldly things, or global perspectives. But sometimes we’re asked to be global before we understand our own backyard.”

The focus of the biennial will be a single, smaller region of the world, but to a deeper extent. Almost half of the artists featured at the biennial will be Paraguayan.

“That’s really what this exhibition is about, is trying to make the contemporary art world aware of the things that are happening at the places not paid attention to,” Smith said.

This isn’t the work of chance either.

Two years ago, Smith was invited to present a series of lectures in Paraguay. Before the lectures started, he attended the world’s second largest biennial next door in São Paulo.

Upon asking why Asunción doesn’t offer its own biennial, the reply was a feeling of resourcelessness.

A little discussion was enough to get the coals of the fire burning.

“The more we talked, people understood that contemporary art doesn’t rely on a lot of the things they thought they needed,” Smith said.

Now, the Paraguayan government fully supports the biennial. The community has created a non-profit foundation for the project, making it the first non-profit cultural organization recognized by the government.

One goal of bringing art to the city in this way is to increase awareness and education.

“Being able to have a productive conversation about what art is, what it means to be an artist, or what culture should look or feel like — those are questions that are really new there,” Smith said.

Art is often closely tied to culture. What may need work is the level of attention given to these forms of expression. For Paraguay, the intricacies of the culture are already there; the attention is coming.

“It [Asunción] is one of the most beautiful cultures I have ever had the privilege of working in,” Smith said. “The people there are amazing, the culture is incredibly profound.”