This summer, Oakland will join the club.

For two weeks at the end of July, dozens of artists from around the globe will converge on Oakland for the inaugural Bayennale.

It's like a film festival with art work replacing the films.

"It's like having the Super Bowl in your town but it is all about art," said Gregory Edwards, an Oakland artist who is helping organize the event. "You just don't get a chance to see things like this with your own eyes."

Traditionally called biennales, such festivals began decades ago in major European cities. The first one was in Venice in 1885 and was quickly duplicated across Europe, from London to Prague.

The events, held every two years, are usually reserved for only the top artists in the world.

Oakland's Bayennale will be different, starting with its name, a play on words that combines "biennale" with the event's location, the Bay Area.

True to Oakland, it will be more grass-roots and more open to the public. For one, it is being run and organized entirely by local artists. They are choosing locations to display the art, reviewing potential pieces consistent with a "cutting edge, avant garde" theme and using their international connections to attract foreign artists.

Most important, for those wishing to catch a glimpse of some of the work, the displays will be free.

"It's sort of an open invitational," said Lowell Darling, a 62-year-old artist helping with the event. "It's totally open to everyone and it will be all over the place."

The art will be displayed throughout the Bay Area in coffee shops, building lobbies, vacant store fronts, city plazas and even in empty shipping containers in Jack London Square.

"It's the first time anything of this size has been done so we're kind of throwing open the doors," said Geoff Dorn, the port's public arts coordinator. "But we don't want this to turn into a crafts fair."

None of the artwork will be for sale.

Organizers hope to include a wide range of genres from paintings to sculptures, movies to performance art.

Artists interested in displaying their work can submit it to the organizers at www.bayennale.com. If they want to find a location, they can ask the organizers to list it on a festival program. Owners of possible venues also can volunteer their space.

Edwards and Darling suggested the event during a brainstorming session of the Port of Oakland's Public Arts Committee. The idea caught on immediately. Soon word spread and a dozen or so artists began meeting to plot potential locations and recruit potential artists.

Port officials joined the planning, offering space in Jack London Square and containers for displays. They also promised to help organize a music festival at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park to anchor the two-week event.

If the Bayennale is successful, organizers said they plan to do it again in two years.

"We want to create what will almost be a boiling point, ... a confluence atmosphere," Dorn said. "We hope it becomes an entire Bay Area event. Something that will be about creating opportunities and building relationships."

The Bayennale will be from July 22 to Aug. 7. For more information visit www.bayennale.com.

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